Mainoo Can Easily Replace Kalvin Philips For Gareth Southgate – Gary Lineker

England legend, Gary Lineker has come out to say that the national team has been crap at Euro 2024. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, he does not understand Gareth Southgate’s baffling Kalvin Phillips claim as well because players like Wharton and Mainoo can easily replace the West Ham midfielder in the current team.

Lineker added that even if he still thinks Gareth is a great communicator and an amazing leader, he has not got his tactics right in Germany thus far.

His words, “I mean, you can think of all sorts of words and expletives if you like, but it was sh*t.

Was it tactically inept? It’s really hard to be critical of Gareth Southgate because, overall in the England role, he’s turned England’s fortunes around in many ways. Having said that, he’s kind of ended up adopting a really talented bunch of players. We’ve done a semi-final of a World Cup final, a final at the European Championship, quarter-final of the subsequent World Cup where, to be honest, we were a little bit unlucky. He’s an amazing leader, he’s a great communicator, he’s transformed the public’s opinion of the national team and the players.

But, tactically, the first game [against Serbia]… and we’ve seen it in other tournaments as well. England kind of start OK and then get a goal and then everything changes, and it’s almost like the kind of tactics of, get a lead, hang onto it. And the game’s moved on from that. They might play it for about three minutes in the game. Are they not coached to play that? If anyone says that the England team is not trying or not giving 100 per cent, that is nonsense. They’re just a little bit lost tactically. And that comes from the manager, I’m afraid. It really does. He’s got to get England playing higher up the pitch, as a unit. Because, at the moment, they’re not a unit.

He talked about, ‘I’ve never been able to replace Kalvin Phillips. I thought, ‘Oh come on’. [Adam] Wharton could do that job easily. [Kobbie] Mainoo could do that job. If you want two holding players, Gareth, you can do that. But Bellingham could do that. Bobby Robson, Terry Venables, would have gone, ‘This is what you’ve got to do for the team. This is your job’. Footballers will always give everything. They always give everything. But do you know one thing they need? They need to know exactly what their job is. I guarantee you, right, the players will be going, ‘We need leadership from the top and we need to be told how to play’. I’ve seen this tournament after tournament now, with an unbelievably gifted bunch of players. You’ve got to be brave. You can’t play and worry about your team’s weaknesses. You’ve got to play to your team’s strengths.”

WOW.