Gareth Southgate's second-half replacement resulted in England's poor performance in the draw with Slovenia, and Kobe Mainu is now certain to start Sunday's last-16 tie, according to Gary Neville.
Despite winning Group C, England suffered major frustration against Slovenia in their final group match in Cologne on Tuesday night and now face the prospect of taking on the Netherlands in their first knockout match on Sunday afternoon.
After struggling to create clear openings in the first half at the RheinEnergieStadion, with Bukayo Saka's strike ruled out for offside, Southgate made a change at half-time, bringing on Mainoo in place of the disappointing Conor Gallagher.
The Manchester United midfielder had a huge impact in improving England's stutter in the second period and Neville now believes he will definitely feature in Sunday's last-16 tie in Gelsenkirchen.
Cole Palmer attacks Slovenia.
“Every time England make a change, they get better,” the former England defender said. ITV Sports.
“I’m confident Mainoo will start the next game. Southgate thought Gallagher was the choice for energy, but it was clear we needed someone to make plays and Adam Wharton can do that.”
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Rob Dorsett has assessed England's goalless draw with Slovenia as Southgate's side showed signs of 'desperation' in their final Group C game.
Southgate attracted attention by improving England's attacking play, including substituting Cole Palmer in place of Saka with 20 minutes left in the game, as well as Mainu.
“The more substitutions we had, the less rigid we looked. We were too basic in the first half and it was tough to watch and I think we went forward in the second half.” Neville added.
The more substitutions we made, the less stiff we looked. In the first half, we looked so basic that it was hard to watch.
“We didn’t get the results, but we got a glimpse of what we can do.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon also arrived late, with Neville urging the England manager not to waste the talent he has in his squad.
“You mentioned Alexander-Arnold, Palmer, (Jude) Bellingham, Saka, Mainoo, (Phil) Foden. These guys are huge talents and we can't afford to mishandle those talents. We will really regret it and so will Gareth. It would be,” Neville said. .
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Gareth Southgate says fans are entitled to their opinions but hearing boos at the end of a match creates an 'unusual environment' for the team.
“What I want to say ahead of Sunday is that these players are there and looking at him now. They came in the second half and improved us tremendously. They are our best technical players, most comfortable on the ball and making us a team. These are players who make it look like they do.
“We were very basic in the first half and that was kind. It was the kind of rigid England we have seen in every tournament for the last 20 years and they seemed to play with a bit of flow in the second half.
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Anthony Gordon has urged England fans to stick with Gareth Southgate's side after several disappointing draws in Group C of Euro 2024.
“We are the only team in the world who regularly asks, 'Where can we fit this player in our team? Where will Bellingham fit? How can we fit him in? How do we get Foden or Palmer?' It's a country.” in?
“All other countries seem to accept them, but we are struggling and have to let them in.”
Roy Keane Agreed with Neville on the impact of Mainoo and Palmer as second-half substitutes against Slovenia.
“Mainoo looked very comfortable on the ball, but the one I always wanted to watch was Palmer. We all wondered why he didn’t come on for the first or second game,” said the former Republic of Ireland captain.
Palmer replaced Bukayo Saka in the second half.
“But when he came on there was definitely more flow to the game in the last 15 or 20 minutes because you thought every time he had the ball something would happen, but there was still no end product and they didn’t really test the goalkeeper.
“But there were one or two positives, a clean sheet, but we need to show a little more quality in the attacking area.”
