Gary Neville suggests crazy formation for England vs Slovenia and breaks down his thinking

Gary Neville has suggested a radical change of formation for England ahead of their match against Slovenia.

On Tuesday evening England will complete their Euro 2024 group stage campaign against Slovenia in Cologne.

While Gareth Southgate’s side have already secured a place in the last-16, then need to win to secure top spot in Group C and secure a favourable knockout pathway.

Finishing second in Group C would set up a last-16 clash with tournament hosts Germany and a potential quarter-final tie against Spain.

England were alarmingly poor in their 1-1 draw with Denmark last week, prompting fans and media to suggest different ways Southgate could try and get the best out of his talented squad.

In The Overlap newsletter, former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville highlighted what he thought were the three main issues with England’s performance against the Danes.

“The team that started the first two games has three problems,” Neville wrote.

“One, You’re blocking off one side with a right-footed left back that can’t go outside or even underlap.

“Two, in midfield you haven’t got a player comfortable receiving the ball on the half turn and connecting the thirds of the pitch.

“Three, up front, there isn’t enough pace alongside Harry Kane. Or, rather, the pace that is there isn’t getting close enough to support him.”

To rectify that, Neville suggested the following formation (3-3-3-1): Jordan Pickford; John Stones, Marc Guehi, Kyle Walker; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice; Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka; Harry Kane.

Explaining his idea, Neville wrote: “Tweaking the formation to put Foden right and Saka on the left can help. They also have the ability to interchange.

“It’s not ideal. Saka won’t be one hundred per cent happy. But, on balance, he’s a player with more directness to his game, whereas Foden will always like to play across the front line.

“Saka is left footed which gives you that option to switch the ball out there wide, even with a right-footed full back. (Foden is left footed too but less likely to stick wide).

“That formation also allows Alexander-Arnold to either come into midfield or go outside Foden and Walker to shuffle up into a back three with Stones and Guehi when necessary. But with Saka’s pace on the left, no team will feel comfortable pushing on or pressing too high on that side.

“It makes England much less obvious to play against and stretches the pitch. There are possibilities everywhere. It still gets all our best players on the pitch. And it has balance.

“And yet I’m still only 80 per cent confident in my team. I am worried. Again I have 2004 flashbacks: we have great players but no obvious way of getting them all on the pitch in the right area.

“I’m not picking that team thinking: “Gareth, this is definitely what you should do!” There are still red flags waving.”