Former England striker Alan Shearer has urged Gareth Southgate to utilise Phil Foden in a different role to get the best out of the Manchester City star at Euro 2024.
England opened their campaign with a 1-0 win over Serbia to top Group C, but Foden was a peripheral figure in the contest in Gelsenkirchen.
The Premier League player of the season excelled at club level this season playing mainly off the right or more centrally.
Yet with competition for places fierce in England’s forward line, Foden has been pushed out to the left by Southgate, with Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham occupying his preferred roles.
Shearer believes that the England manager should reconsider for his side’s second group game against Denmark in Frankfurt on Thursday and leave out Trent Alexander-Arnold to maximise Foden’s impact.
“The two talking points are who plays alongside [Declan] Rice and who plays on that left side,” Shearer told Betfair. “ I thought [Alexander-Arnold] did alright without being spectacular. Is Phil Foden going to continue to play on the left hand side?
“I would play Bellingham alongside Rice and Foden as the [number] 10, which is where he wants to play.
“I don’t think that would be a problem at all, you’re playing Bellingham with Rice so you free up that left side for someone who can run in behind, whether that would be [Eberechi] Eze or [Anthony] Gordon. That’s what I would have done and that’s what I’d do against Denmark.”
Bellingham’s first-half header separated the teams in Gelsenkirchen in a nervy opening win for England that nonetheless sees them already on course for the knockout rounds.
Any dramatic changes appear unlikely against Denmark, but Shearer is certain that Southgate can unlock more of Foden’s ability by tweaking his position.
The former Newcastle centre forward explained: “He wants to have the freedom and I think England have given him that, even after five minutes into the game he was on the right, he has got the freedom to move and go wherever he wants but when Bellingham is playing in a 10 role then it’s difficult for him to go over there and go into a crowded space.
“When you’re playing against a packed defence, like England were against Serbia then it’s really important to keep your width, with Saka one side and Foden the other, almost getting the chalk on their boots from the touchlines.
“That’s how you make it difficult for the opposition, but of course Foden doesn’t want to do that, Saka doesn’t mind but that’s not Foden’s game, he wants to roam and he wants to come inside, I’d feel better if he was in the 10 role and I don’t think that would crowd it up, Bellingham would sit alongside Rice and he would then have the freedom to go forward if he wanted to do that.”
