Kobbie Mainoo leads the England Clamour rankings; will Gareth Southgate listen?

Sarah Winterburn 26 Jun 2024 10:56 AM

England clamour is for Kobbie Mainoo and co.

England were mildly better against Slovenia than against Denmark, though much of the positivity came from the bench.

So that leaves us with a lot of noise about who should come in for a Euro 2024 last-16 clash (probably against the Netherlands).

There was never a clamour for Conor Gallagher and that really should have told Gareth Southgate something.

But there is some noise for…

5) Ollie Watkins
There have always been those who have called for Harry Kane to be dropped from this England team but that sentiment was always restricted to the cranks and the axe-grinders. Now it has leaked into the mainstream after Kane ‘wandered around like a granny at a car boot sale’ against Slovenia, after similarly languid performances in the first two games.

Is he fully fit? He claims he is, but that is damning in itself because a fully-fit Kane should really be moving better. And you know who would definitely move better? The Aston Villa striker who ended the Premier League season with 19 goals and 13 assists.

It won’t happen because dropping Kane would be akin to overthrowing the monarchy, but the noise is getting louder.

MORE ON ENGLAND v SLOVENIA FROM F365:
👉 16 Conclusions as England win Group C despite themselves: what does Southgate do now?
👉 Harry Kane ‘wandering around like a granny at a car boot’; is Southgate ‘trolling’ us?
👉 England player ratings v Slovenia: Bellingham awful, Foden tries, hopeless Gallagher’s Euro 2024 done

4) Joe Gomez
In the absence of a proper fit left-back (and there is obviously growing concern that Luke Shaw will simply never be fit at this tournament) then somebody who played 19 games at left-back last season seems like the next best option.

He’s still right-footed and he might actually be no better than Kieran Trippier going forward on the left, but when the dissatisfaction reaches the ‘stick Bukayo Saka at left-back’ stage then you know the clamour for change is getting louder.

And when the clamour comes predominantly from Liverpool fans, you know this means more noise.

3) Anthony Gordon
Finally came off the bench. Whoop. Ran the ball straight out of play. Not so much whooping.

But then he settled and in just a few minutes played the best England ball of the game (possibly of the tournament) that found Kobbie Mainoo (who found Harry Kane, who found Cole Palmer, who missed). He also created more chances (one) than Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher combined.

The clamour for Gordon is confused by Phil Foden being England’s best attacking player on Tuesday night so to get Gordon into the team, you have to do all sorts of gymnastics. Foden to the right? Foden into the middle and Bellingham back? It might be easier to bring in…

2) Cole Palmer
We love Bukayo Saka; everybody in their right mind loves Bukayo Saka; but everybody in their right mind can also see that Bukayo Saka looks absolutely knackered after playing a shed-load of football over the last three years.

It feels a little bit like shooting Bambi, but there’s no doubt that Palmer enlivened England when he replaced Saka after 70 poor minutes v Slovenia. He should actually have scored, which would absolutely have made him 1) on this list.

“He’ll be under huge pressure to play Palmer in the next game because he came on tonight and affected the game,” said Roy Keane. It’s called a clamour, Roy.

1) Kobbie Mainoo
It was genuinely negligent of Gareth Southgate to start Conor Gallagher v Slovenia when the obvious switch was to pull Jude Bellingham back into midfield, closely followed by the actual central midfield options of Mainoo and Adam Wharton.

Finally, two-and-a-half games into the tournament, England’s midfield began to function as Mainoo constantly moved, actively sought the ball and looked forward with his passes.

Obviously, this kind of positivity will never do and Southgate will revert to either Alexander-Arnold or Gallagher this weekend.

“I am certain Mainoo will start the next game,” said Gary Neville. Oh my sweet summer child…

F365 Features Kobbie Mainoo