Gary Neville Comes to Phil Foden’s Defence Following Jamie Carragher’s Call for Benching Manchester City Star

England are making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Days after a narrow victory against Serbia, they were shockingly held 1-1 by Denmark. We are only at Matchday 2 and the blame game has already begun as Jamie Carragher recently urged Gareth Southgate that Phil Foden should be ‘sacrificed‘ from the starting XI. However, Gary Neville showed his support for the Manchester City star, as he rather sees it ‘difficult to think about leaving Foden out.’

It’s fair to say that the whole England side hasn’t hit the ground running as they were expected to. However, it’s mostly Phil Foden, who has been facing questions about his display in both group-stage matches, so far. Yet, Neville believes benching Foden isn’t an answer to fix England’s lackluster attack. As compiled by @cityreport_ on X, the Manchester United icon said, “How can we leave [Phil Foden out of the England team]? Honestly, I find it really difficult to think about leaving Foden out of our football team.”

Notably, this claim is also a subtle response to what Carragher recently published in the Telegraph regarding the Three Lions’ performance, headlined, “Time to be ruthless, Gareth – pick your best team, not your best players.” The Liverpool icon underlined two big names underperforming in Germany for his nation. “Unfortunately, two of the best Premier League footballers – Trent Alexander-Arnold and Phil Foden – will have to be sacrificed now. The team’s set-up is not getting the best from them, or their team-mates,” he wrote.

Surprisingly, only Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane have managed to get their name on the scoresheet. Meanwhile, the likes of Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice have the confidence of many. But the question stands: what exactly went wrong for Foden and Trent?

Jamie Carragher explains why Phil Foden and Trent Alexander-Arnold should be dropped from the England XI

Jamie Carragher wrote that as much as he is in awe of Phil Foden’s quality, the Cityzen star’s presence in England’s starting XI is questionable. The former English midfielder believes it is difficult for Gareth Southgate and Co. to find a ‘system that works and complements everyone.’ Carragher asserts that Foden can never operate alongside Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane if all three end up inhabiting the same position and attacking area on the pitch.

As for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Carragher stated that starting him in the midfield role in such a crucial tournament stage is a massive risk. Not only did Southgate’s experiment fail, but it also saw the right-back get substituted early against Denmark. The pundit highlighted that the holding midfield position is ‘more physically demanding‘ than the full-back role. Carragher believes Trent gets better ‘time and space to utilize his passing range when he in hybrid role.’

Indeed, these are bold perspectives from Jamie Carragher on Phil Foden and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Regardless, Gary Neville thinks otherwise, especially regarding Foden. Whatever the case may be, the final decision rests with Gareth Southgate, and it would be interesting to see what he decides for the final group stage fixture.