Roy Keane has slammed what he sees as a dithering England at Euro 2024.
He believes Gareth Southgate is ‘overthinking’ and is failing to unlock ‘courage and bravery’ in his pride of lions.
Meanwhile, Gary Neville has given a foreboding forecast for the rest of the tournament unless things change fast – and thinks England’s ’embarrasment of riches’ has become a hindrance.
Their scathing rebukes come after England drew their second match 1-1 with Euro 2020 semi-finalists Denmark, which still leaves the Three Lions top of group C.
‘Courage and bravery, we’re not really seeing it,’ Keane told ITV Sport.
Roy Keane believes Gareth Southgate is ‘overthinking’ and that England are playing ‘without courage and bravery’
Gary Neville thinks England’s array of attacking talent has become a ‘problem’ for Southgate
‘There’s something amiss with the balance. Bellingham is waving his arms.
‘This is a big test for Gareth. It looks like he’s overthinking things.’
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Woeful England lacked fluency, confidence and cohesion in 1-1 draw with Denmark, writes OLIVER HOLT
Pundits were quick to pounce on England following their 1-0 win over Serbia to open the campaign, accusing England of lacking invention and much drive to score a second.
Jude Bellingham got the goal in that game but the likes of Phil Foden on the left wing and Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield came in for scrutiny.
Still, England have a chequered history at the European Championship and Southgate is the only boss to ever lead them to an opening-match victory, something he has done twice.
Gary Neville said: ‘He’s going to be put through the mill in next few days.
‘We do expect them to win it, but it’s the first time I’ve felt he’s conflicted with this embarassment of riches. It’s causing him more of a problem.
‘He has to look really closely at it in the next 24 hours. They’re not playing particularly well so they need to sort themselves out.
Southgate watched as his side stumbled to a 1-1 draw with Denmark on Thursday evening
England deserve praise for being top of Group C but have struggled to convince with their performances
Harry Kane put England ahead but was later taken off and criticised for a lack of pressing
‘Something needs to change here. This ends badly the way it is going.’
The problem of how to fuse a front four of Harry Kane, Foden, Bukayo Saka, and Foden, as well as the question of how much to include stars such as Cole Palmer, has been one of England’s talking points before and during Euro 2024.
Pundits felt that Foden improved coming into a more central role against Denmark, but criticised Kane for dropping too deep and not pressing with enough verve.
At half-time against Denmark, Rio Ferdinand told BBC Sport: ‘I’d be going mad [at Kane]. I’d be screaming. I couldn’t have my centre-forward not filling in with the same workload that the other players are putting in.
‘I need to see the same workload and intensity [from Kane]. Put their centre-half under pressure like I’m receiving as an England defender!’
Micah Richards even called for him to be replaced by Ollie Watkins, which he was after 70 minutes, a decisive move for which Southgate was praised.
