Saka and Rice are the vital men, says Teddy Sheringham Create a whole greater than the parts, says John Barnes is three lions?
EBUKAYO SAKA and Declan Rice will be key at the Euros, says Teddy Sheringham. The Arsenal stars enjoyed a superb season despite just falling short of glory in the Premier League title race.
Saka finished the campaign with 20 goals in all competitions, while Rice (left) still bagged five from central midfield and provided great performance after great performance for Mikel Arteta’s side as they tried in vain to stay
NGLAND have the right mentality to secure glory in Germany this summer – if they can gel together, says John Barnes.
The Three Lions narrowly missed out on winning Euro 2020 after an agonising defeat on penalties to Italy atwembley in the tournament delayed by Covid.
A year later, Gareth Southgate’s men were dumped out of the 2022World Cup in Qatar by eventual winners France at the quarter-final stage.
But former Liverpool winger Barnes (right), who won 79 England caps, believes Southgate’s current squad has the collective strength and depth to prove all the doubters wrong.
“Individuals aren’t going to win England international in front of Pep Guardiola’s irresistible champions.
Competition for places – particularly in attack – is fierce for the Three Lions ahead of the Euros in Germany this summer.
But Sheringham insists the Arsenal double act will be two of the first names on the team sheet for Gareth Southgate.
“I wouldn’t be thinking about picking Cole Palmer on the right instead of Saka,” said the former Tottenham and Manchester United hitman, 58.
“Palmer has had an excellent season but Saka is a fantastic player. He makes the right decisions at the right time and that’s what it’s all about at the highest level.
“Rice would definitely be my sitting midfielder. You only need one sitter when Rice plays because he is that good. He can cover so much ground.
“Jude Bellingham picks tournaments,” he said. “All we can do is ask Gareth to maximise the potential of the players that he has available.
“The whole idea of a golden generation, I heard it from 2010 and 2014 – Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole,wayne Rooney, look at the team.
“Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole – we don’t have defenders as good as them so why are we getting carried away now?
“We need to have a certain humility. Gareth and the team has had that.
“I think we’re good – we should be aiming to win but don’t be disappointed if we don’t. Let’s keep our feet on the ground.”
Southgate is well stocked in
FOR A EUROPEAN ASSAULT WITH A SQUAD OF SUPERSTARS
himself. He should be playing with a roaming role in front of Rice that allows him to get up in support of Harry Kane.
“Phil Foden would be the other player that I would play alongside Rice and Bellingham.
“That leaves the left wing and I think Jack Grealish would be the best option. I think Grealish is fantastic in what he does.”
Marcus Rashford didn’t make the cut for the England squad after a poor season with Manchester United.
The forward, 26, scored only seven Premier League goals during this campaign and is still recovering from an injury.
Sheringham, who was capped 51 times for the Three Lions, reckons Southgate isn’t afraid of taking tough decisions when they are needed most.
“When you’re getting dropped for your club team, when he should be one of the first names on the team sheet, that will have been the big concern for the forward positions, with Cole Palmer, Olliewatkins and Jarrod Bowen – who scored 57 Premier League goals between them this season – all battling for a starting spot.
Harry Kane has been firing on all cylinders in Germany for Bayern Munich, while Phil Foden has been in sensational form for Manchester City and Jude Bellingham has been tearing it up in La Liga for Real Madrid.
Barnes, 60, believes England’s abundance of talent up top counts for nothing if the equilibrium between the players is even a little off.
“It’s pointless talking about what we have going forward boss,” he added. “Gareth is a loyal man. He likes to keep the faith with players that have done it for him in the past.
“But as we’ve seen with Raheem Sterling, sometimes that faith can run out.” until we get that balance right,” he added.
“You can’t play all of them and the issue is that people expect these players to play in exactly the same way or be as effective as they are when they play for their clubs.
“That’s unrealistic and has always worked against England.
“We’ve always had this problem at international level – myself, Glenn Hoddle, Chriswaddle – where the English teams play completely different styles of football and people expect it to all come together when players wear the England shirt.”
That’s the problem that Southgate must now
solve.