England team news: Alan Shearer agrees with Gareth Southgate in Slovakia line-up demand

Gareth Southgate simply has to make changes to the England line-up if he wants to see improvements against Slovakia, according to Alan Shearer.

England are gearing up for their last-16 encounter with Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday afternoon following an underwhelming group stage campaign at Euro 2024. The Three Lions progressed top of Group C but were held to dull draws by Denmark and Slovenia and scored just twice in three games.

There has been a real lack of creativity and fluency in attack, with Harry Kane, Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka struggling to link up. Southgate has been urged to make changes after Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer impressed in brief cameos off the bench against Slovenia.

Southgate says his side will “press the reset button” against Slovakia, yet he is expected to make just one change, with Kobbie Mainoo coming in for Conor Gallagher in midfield. Shearer has been among the most critical voices so far and is praying Southgate has a change of heart and rings the changes.

“When things aren’t working then it is time to make the changes. Gareth said it himself, it’s time to press the reset button,” he told Betfair. “Those are his words, and when you say the reset, then that means something is fundamentally wrong and not working.

"Those words he used are telling us that. With the impact the subs made the other day, he is going to have to make changes, there is no doubt about that. Whether it is two or three, or whatever.

Gareth Southgate

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“There’s only one prediction for me here. England will improve. They’ve got to start clicking into third and fourth gear now. So England, without doubt. I can see it being a convincing win, I hope so. This is the time they’ll put their foot on the gas. They’ll show a lot more energy, they’ll show a lot more confidence. This is where the tournament will start for England.”

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Southgate said: “Our identity for a while has been pretty clear. We haven’t quite seen that in the first couple of games and there was a need to have a reset button and have open and honest conversations.

“That is a reflection – we reflect as a coaching team and the players are reflective. So nobody has been ducking anything this week, nobody has been alone in their thoughts. It’s a real collective because we’re all on the same page. That allows us to assess where we were and how we need to progress in the same direction.”

Slovakia only reached the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed sides, pipping Ukraine to the spot on goal difference, but they only picked up one fewer point than England. They are ranked 45th in the world – 40 places below the Three Lions – but Shearer has warned against complacency.

He said: “We can’t underestimate Slovakia, of course it will be a tough game but like the group stages, if you could have hand-picked a team to play in the last-16 then Slovakia would have been it. If we can’t get through to the quarter finals there are big issues.”

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