Will trying to get Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer into the England squad be Gareth Southgate’s ‘Paul Scholes moment’?
To suggest that Foden and Palmer should start for England at this summer’s European Championship after scoring a hat-trick in midweek is not jumping on the bandwagon. The cases that have emerged throughout the campaign are intriguing and in fact there are five English players who have scored and assisted 30 or more goals in Europe this season: Foden, Palmer, Bellingham, Harry Kane and Ollie Watkins.
Unfortunately for Watkins, he will not be able to replace Kane at centre-forward and has actually failed to impress for England so far. His place in the squad is at risk, especially after Ivan Toney’s strong performance against Brazil recently.
Southgate’s problem is how to get the others to work together? There’s an immediate comparison in this question and an age-old debate for international managers: How do you get your best players into the team and still keep them functioning?
So for England, there are echoes of the situation Sven Goran-Eriksson faced as he and David Beckham tried to get Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Scholes on the same side. His solution? Taking the easy option, he struggled to find one and unhappily sent Scholes to play on the left wing, with Gerrard and Lampard unable to operate very effectively as a midfield duo. England looked much better with the introduction of Owen Hargreaves.
“What are you doing with Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham?” Eriksson said. “If we wanted to use all four midfielders, the best solution was to put Scholes on the left.”
The problem was that although Scholes said Eriksson was England’s best midfielder, he clearly did not like the change of position. He ended his international career prematurely after a disappointing Euros in 2004, aged 29. Scholes later said he regretted this but that playing out of position was a factor in his decision.
The situation is very different for Foden and Palmer. And not least because they are 23 and 21 years old respectively. Foden may have 33 caps but Palmer has just two; He could only play 35 minutes in the European qualifiers against North Macedonia and Malta. However, due to his lack of fitness, he could only play in the last two matches, the friendly matches against Brazil and Belgium. Instead he watched Anthony Gordon get his chance.
Clearly Bukayo Saka deserves to start for England and he will do so to the right of whatever formation Southgate decides on. It currently looks like a 4-2-3-1 approach with two warm-up games against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland before heading to Germany.
Southgate appears to prefer Bellingham in the number 10 role he plays behind Kane at Real Madrid. With Saka on the right, Foden looks set to compete with the others for a place on the left, although he has done his best playing more centrally for Manchester City and England in recent times.
Palmer? He plays on the right wing for Chelsea. However, he is unlikely to unseat Saka. There’s also Jarrod Bowen. Southgate also has Gordon, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish to consider on the left wing and it is clear that not all of them will go to the Euros.
So what is he doing? Palmer is left-footed, although he is at his best from the inside right channel, where he can move infield with his stronger left side. He can play on either wing, out wide or as a number 10, and although he is not the fastest, he has the ability to beat his opponent. Southgate could easily deploy him down the left; but certainly not at Foden’s expense, right?
The solution is to move Bellingham back to partner Declan Rice in the double pivot. That might work, but do England really want to limit Bellingham in this way, even if they allow Bellingham to progress more often than Rice?
So what should Southgate do? There is one answer and that is to copy City’s approach. England can play 4-1-4-1. This means a back four of Saka, Bellingham, Foden and Palmer (the last two swapping places) behind Kane and Rice, with Rodri as the sole midfielder in the role.
The key then would be to ask John Stones to move into midfield like he did at City, but unfortunately there is a potential flaw (or two) in all this. Luke Shaw really needs to be fit and play on the left and with Kyle Walker on the right there is a serious doubt about him. But above all, Harry Maguire needs to be able to play as a dominant centre-half in the middle of this trio. The fear is that without Stones it will always be there and he won’t have the mobility to deal with it.
What this does do, however, is bring more of England’s attacking and creative players into the team. This will have crossed Southgate’s mind. Brave enough to change and give young players a chance; most recently Kobbie Mainoo.
As always, getting international managers to put the pieces of the puzzle together is their biggest challenge and defines them. England have an outstanding squad, albeit one with obvious shortcomings, and it is fair to argue that teams with better defensive bases will win tournaments. But sometimes it’s also about going for it and making the most of your best weapons. It would be a shame, and perhaps a regret, if England’s outstanding young players were not considered together. Southgate needs the best team on the pitch at the European Championship, not the most exciting bench.