June 28th 2024.
Wayne Rooney, the former Manchester United and England striker, recently expressed his surprise and shock at the decisions made by current England manager Gareth Southgate for the Euro 2024 squad. In particular, Rooney was taken aback by the absence of a fully-fit left-back in the team, with Chelsea's Ben Chilwell being left out.
Southgate himself admitted that he took a gamble by selecting Luke Shaw, who had been struggling with injuries throughout the season for his club Manchester United. The hope was that Shaw would recover in time to play in the second group game against Denmark, but unfortunately, he was unable to do so and remains on the bench for the knockout stages.
This left Kieran Trippier to fill in at left-back, but his performances have been lackluster in terms of attacking contribution, despite being part of the team with the best defensive record at Euro 2024. Some experts have suggested that Kyle Walker should move to the left-back position to provide more attacking threat, with Trent Alexander-Arnold playing on the right side. Others have even proposed dropping Bukayo Saka into the role.
Rooney believes that all of these issues could have been avoided if Southgate had included Chilwell in the squad. Like Shaw, Chilwell also faced injury setbacks during the season, but he had managed to feature for Chelsea towards the end of their campaign.
Speaking on the BBC's Football Daily podcast, Rooney said, "I was very surprised and really shocked that Ben Chilwell didn't get picked. Just for balance of having a left-footed player there. You're talking about a player at Chelsea. He has been good for England in the past, he's a good left-back and he's been at tournaments as well. So I was really surprised he wasn't selected and now you're left with [Kieran] Trippier or [Joe] Gomez."
Rooney also discussed the potential options for the left-back position, saying, "I think at the moment it has to be Trippier or Gomez who plays there. Or do you bring Kyle [Walker] across? For me, he's been the best right-back in the world over the last few years, so do you take that away from England? There's so many imbalances and questions from that point of view. The left side of the pitch has been a bit of an issue for me. That's the one area now where I don't know what he will do. It will be interesting to see what Gareth Southgate does in the next game."
Despite England's underwhelming performances in the group stage, they managed to advance as Group C winners. They now face Slovakia in the last-16 tie on Sunday, with a potential quarter-final match against Switzerland or reigning champions Italy.
Rooney remains optimistic about England's chances in the knockout stages, but he acknowledges that there is a problem with so many star players under-performing for the national team. "There are so many really good attacking players in the team – Harry Kane, Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka. We are seeing them perform on a weekly basis for their clubs but not for England. There is certainly a problem."
As the tournament progresses, it will be interesting to see how Southgate addresses the left-back position and if England's star players can rise to the occasion and deliver for their country.
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