England take on Australia in a friendly this Friday and then host Italy in a Euro2024 qualifier next Tuesday, with Gareth Southgate coming under fire from all angles for his squad selection.
To date, Southgate has managed to dodge a media hounding for the most part, something that saw more than one of his predecessors out of a job.
His eloquence and honesty when answering any and all questions, as well as picking players on form rather than reputation, appeared to have won him a legion of supporters within media circles but that support appears to be dwindling now.
Gary Lineker is just the latest to have an opinion on Southgate’s strange squad selection ahead of the two games.
“Whoever’s in the squad, someone has to be left out. There will always be players that certain people, we all have a view on who should be in, who should be out, so it’s a thankless task in many ways,” he said on The Rest is Football Podcast.
“But there are some things that do surprise you a little bit. Raheem Sterling for example has been in good form early in the season, he’s been particularly good in the last couple of games.
“He’s always been brilliant for Gareth Southgate and an important player for Gareth Southgate which [his exclusion from the squad] is surprising. Of course, things do change but he’s stuck by other players who have had more problems at club level.
“Harry Maguire and certainly Kalvin Phillips who’s still in the squad, he’s not getting a kick generally [at Manchester City]. Ward-Prowse is left out as well, so I suppose there’s always going to be someone isn’t there?”
Lineker has become an acquired taste for many but he does have a point.
There can be no reasonable explanation why Sterling and Ward-Prowse have been left on the sidelines in favour of players that are injured or not playing for their club side.
It smacks of a manager beginning to revert to type when it comes to the Three Lions.
As Euro2024 appears over the horizon, Southgate has got to get everything spot on if he finally wants to break a hoodoo that has weighed every England manager down since 1966.