Sport
Paul Scholes sends clear message to Gareth Southgate over England’s Euro 2024 starting 11
He's echoing what many have been calling for even prior to the tournament.
Danny Jones -
25th June 2024 
Manchester United legend and former England player Paul Scholes has sent a pretty clear message to manager Gareth Southgate ahead of the Three Lions final group game of Euro 2024.
Southgate‘s side take on Slovenia at 8pm on Tuesday, 25 June and despite having already qualified for the knockout stages, it’s fair to say that many fans and pundits alike haven’t been overwhelmingly impressed with their performances thus far – not least of all Paul Scholes.
It’s fair to say the retired Premier League veteran and ex-England international knows a thing or two about being a midfielder and since finding the right balance in the middle of the park seems to be one of their main issues so far, Scholes isn’t mincing his words when it comes to his critcism.
After Monday’s reports that Southgate is swap out Trent Alexander-Arnold for Conor Gallagher following what many have dubbed a ‘failed’ midfield experiment, Scholes jumped on Instagram to accuse the England boss of being “obsessed” with energy above other traits.
📸 – Paul Scholes on Instagram reacting to reports that Connor Gallagher is set to start ahead of Kobbie Mainoo today.
— UF (@UtdFaithfuls) June 25, 2024
Keep going, Scholesy. pic.twitter.com/bVbFJlG3Jg
It remains to be seen whether or not Southgate will indeed start the Chelsea star ahead of any of his other midfielder options but, as you can see, Scholes wants to see the player with the best footballing “brain” come into replace the Liverpool right-back, who was tried there due to his passing range.
While there’s no question that Alexander-Arnold is an intelligent footballer – hence why he was given the nod to play at the base of the midfield in the first place – he isn’t exactly an energetic, box-to-box midfielder or someone with loads of expefrience in the position for his club, let alone for his country.
With that in mind, Scholes made it very clear that he believes Man United‘s breakthrough talent from this season, Kobbie Mainoo, should be preferred ahead of any other player being rotated into the starting 11, having emerged as one of the best midfielders in the league and scoring the winner in the FA Cup final.
And in case anyone was doubting that Mainoo is indeed the player that Scholes was referring to, he said just as much to TNT Sports, claiming “if he came in [to the team], all of a sudden you have control” and adding that sometimes it only takes on player to make the rest of the tick.
"You think of Toni Kroos with Germany, he just makes them play football. Rodri with Man City and Spain. I think Kobbie Mainoo has got the ability to do that."
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) June 24, 2024
Paul Scholes believes that Kobbie Mainoo could be the key to unlocking the attacking brilliance of England's midfield… pic.twitter.com/kTiAHj6UlB
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It’s worth noting that he’s by no means the only one calling for the United youth product to come in, with his name and Cole Palmer both being cried out for by much of the England fan base.
Southgate also irked a lot of fans by overlooking the capabilities of Mainoo, Declan Rice and others when he claimed that he they “don’t have a natural replacement for Kalvin Phillips”, despite many believing that a number of players could do the job in that pivot so long as you find the right balance around them.
Scholes did ultimately show his support and faith that England will get better as the tournament goes on but he’s making no bones about who he thinks could be the solution for that midfield dilemma that has so long lingered over our teams in years gone by.
Elsewhere, captain Harry Kane was also applauded for his response to recent punditry by ex-national team players Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer who essentially summed up their performance at Euro 2024 so far as “sh*t”.
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Featured Images — Diego Sideburns (via Flickr)/England (via Instagram)
