Gary Neville slammed England boss Gareth Southgate for his ‘illegal’ handling of Trent Alexander-Arnold against Slovakia.
Alexander-Arnold was benched for England’s last-16 clash and, speaking at half time as the Three Lions trailed 1-0, Neville said he was staggered by the Liverpool star’s lack of involvement.
Despite advancing to the knockout stages as Group C winners, Southgate’s side underwhelmed in their first three games in Germany and produced another dismal first-half performance against Slovakia.
England failed to have a single shot on target and trailed at the interval after Ivan Schranz broke the deadlock on 25 minutes.
Neville implored Southgate to make three half-time changes – he ended up making none – and said Alexander-Arnold’s absence in the team should be ‘illegal’.
‘Southgate has tried minimum interference but it’s not working,’ Neville told ITV. This has got Iceland vibes written all over it.
‘It’s now or never for Gareth. He’s got to interfere and rip up the script because it’s been like this for four games now. It’s not about making one or two changes, he needs to get three on the pitch.
‘We need to see Palmer, we’ve got to see Trent and we’ve got to see Gordon. He’s got to shift the whole narrative around this game because nothing is going to change if he doesn’t.
‘I would switch Walker over and put Trent on. Gordon will be a runner and we know Palmer is in better form than the other players at this time.
‘Trent, it’s illegal that that lad isn’t playing football in a game like this for England.
‘We cannot have Walker and Trippier at full-back when we’re on the ball all the time.
‘Trent is the best football player we’ve ever seen at right-back in this country. He’s got to be on the pitch.’
Fellow Manchester United legend Roy Keane agreed that Southgate should have rung the changes at half-time.
‘You can’t keep waiting, the waiting is over,’ he added. ‘It’s the biggest team talk of Gareth Southgate’s career.
‘There have to be changes. Southgate has to get more energy. They look so flat, they aren’t pulling together. How many more excuses can we make?
‘It has been going on for months. There is a time to panic and there’s a time to step up – England are still in it.
‘All the really good managers out there are gamblers. He’s got to go for it.’
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