Harry Kane is droppable and Phil Foden should have been subbed BEFORE half-time vs Serbia, claims ex-England star
FORMER England star Teddy Sheringham has urged Gareth Southgate to stop relying on Harry Kane if the striker continues misfiring.
And he also reckons Phil Foden deserved to be subbed off at half-time as England limped to a 1-0 win over Serbia.
The Three Lions started their Euro 2024 group stage campaign with victory on Sunday night.
But a lacklustre performance in forward areas took the shine off the occasion.
Fans were left drooling after Southgate picked an exciting young squad full of promising attackers.
Yet England were reduced to defending deep as tired bodies struggled to keep Serbia at bay.
Kane and Foden had particularly quiet games, with the former barely getting a sniff of the ball up front.
As for Foden, he looked a shadow of the Manchester City star recently crowned Premier League Player of the Season.
And Southgate will undoubtedly be mulling over plans for his starting XI ahead of Thursday’s crunch clash with Denmark.
But Sheringham has told the England boss he can’t stick with old favourites if they’re not delivering the goods.
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The former 51-time international believes Kane must get involved more in future matches.
And if the Bayern Munich hero continues to struggle, he must be taken off by Southgate for someone else.
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Sheringham told Footy Accumulators: “I think Gareth Southgate should be brave enough to take anyone off, even Harry Kane. Everyone’s interchangeable, there’s no doubt about that.
“Harry might need a break sometimes during the game. If he comes off, he’s still the captain of England and if we end up picking a trophy up in a few weeks’ time, it’ll be Harry that goes up to pick it up for us, whether he’s starting or he isn’t starting.
“It’s about the greater good and the good thing about Harry is he’s actually a team player, and he wants the team to do well as well as himself.”
As for Foden, Sheringham reckons he should have been hauled off at the break against Serbia.
And looking ahead to Denmark, he feels Eberchi Eze would be a more natural fit for the left flank.
Sheringham added: “Phil Foden had what I would call an average game.
“What the game needed, by the way the Serbians played the game, was for England to be a little bit more aggressive in regard to taking players on.
“On Bukayo Saka’s side I thought he was very effective and that’s where the goal came from, on the left hand side we got two crosses in and it wasn’t enough.
“We need to play an outside player on the left-hand side, someone like Eberechi Eze or Anthony Gordon, to run at the full back and that would’ve been the way forward.
“I just felt as though we needed a two-pronged attack on both sides of the flank. I think we had that from Saka. I would have liked to have seen it a bit more on the other side.
“Phil Foden’s natural game is to tuck inside a little bit and try to be integral in setting things up down the middle.
“I felt as if the game didn’t need that after 20 minutes and that’s why I said he should be subbed off for Eberechi Eze before half-time.”