Gary Neville claims England’s attacking stars who helped spearhead them to victory over the Czech Republic will be tough to drop heading into the last-16 of Euro 2020.
Raheem Sterling scored the only goal at Wembley following a move where Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka – both making their first starts of the tournament – combined on an impressive night for the trio as England topped Group D.
With Phil Foden having been rested before the game and Mason Mount ruled out due to having to self isolate as part of covid protocols, Southgate had to tinker with his team for the group stage finale which produced arguably England’s best attacking display of the tournament so far.
Neville now believes the performance of the trio makes it incredibly difficult to drop any of them for the knock-out stages.
‘Tonight we have seen Saka, Sterling and Grealish,’ Neville told ITV. ‘These three have put the likes of [Marcus] Rashford and Foden under real pressure.
‘It wouldn’t surprise me if Gareth stuck with these three. I think Foden will come back in but it’ll be tough to leave one of those three out after this.’
Saka picked up the man of the match award following his first appearance for England at a major tournament and Neville also stated his excellent display will have inspired his team-mates as well as put pressure on the likes of Foden for their first-team place in the squad.
‘I’m hoping Foden is watching Saka and thought that’s what we expect from him’, the former England right-back added.
‘He’s driving at people, that’s what we expected from Foden in the first two games but we didn’t get it, we know how exceptional he is. I think Saka could have inspired his team-mates tonight.
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