Punditry trio Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker and Micah Richards have each named their best England starting line-ups for Euro 2024.
The pressure will be on Gareth Southgate to finally win a tournament with the new ‘golden generation’ at next summer’s tournament, having reached the final with an arguably weaker squad in 2021.
Now the Match of the Day favourites have been tasked with selecting their own teams on The Rest Is Football podcast - but with the caveat of only picking players called up by Southgate for the recent Euro qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia - which ended in a 2-0 win and a dismal 1-1 draw respectively.
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So without further ado, here are their starting line-ups for Germany 2024:
- Gary Lineker: Jordan Pickford - Kyle Walker; John Stones; Marc Guehi; Kieran Trippier - Declan Rice; Jude Bellingham; James Maddison - Bukayo Saka; Harry Kane; Phil Foden.
- Alan Shearer: Jordan Pickford - Kyle Walker; John Stones; Harry Maguire; Kieran Trippier - Declan Rice; Jude Bellingham; Phil Foden - Bukayo Saka; Harry Kane; Jack Grealish.
- Micah Richards: Jordan Pickford - Kyle Walker; John Stones; Marc Guehi; Kieran Trippier - Declan Rice; Jude Bellingham; Trent Alexander-Arnold- Bukayo Saka; Harry Kane; Jack Grealish.
Whose team selection do you agree with the most? Let us know in the comments section.
Pickford remains both Southgate and the pundits’ first choice between the sticks, as he has been for England at each competition since the 2018 World Cup. Their defensive selections showed little variation too, with the exception of Shearer picking the experienced Maguire over 23-year-old Crystal Palace star Guehi.
World class midfielders Bellingham and Rice unsurprisingly featured for all three former England internationals. But each selected a different third midfield partner- the position which is likely to cause Southgate the biggest headache ahead of Germany.
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Richards chose Alexander-Arnold to tuck in alongside Rice, presumably because of his fantastic playmaking ability. Lineker opted for in-form Tottenham playmaker Maddison, who notched three goals and five league assists before his injury.
Meanwhile, Shearer went against all of Southgate’s previous tactical selections by choosing Foden to play in the No.10 role - a position many expected him to make his own before he was deployed on the wing for Manchester City by Pep Guardiola.
Two-time England Player of the Year Saka was everybody’s choice on the right flank while captain and record goal-scorer Kane also remained a staple.
But another notable point of contention was the left-wing position; while Shearer and Richards selected Grealish for his dribbling and otherworldly ball retention, Lineker preferred his more nimble and technical City team-mate Foden, a fellow Treble winner.
