‘What a time to be a right-back’: Gary Neville leads the reaction as England boss Gareth Southgate names his final squad for Euro 2020 with four right-backs included
The England squad for Euro 2020 has been named, with manager Gareth Southgate leaving out Jesse Lingard, Aaron Ramsdale, Ben Godfrey, Ben White, James Ward-Prowse, Ollie Watkins and Mason Greenwood from his provisional squad, the latter missing out due to injury.
After much debate, Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold was included in the squad, as was Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka.
After the squad was announced there was a considerable amount of discussion on social media.
Ex-England star Gary Neville was pleased to see four right-backs in Gareth Southgate’s squad and joked about Jamie Carragher’s claim that ‘no-one wants to grow up to be Gary Neville’
Ex-England international Gary Neville led the reaction, commenting on the decision to include four right-backs – Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker, Reece James and Kieran Trippier.
The former Manchester United defender joked about fellow pundit Jamie Carragher’s previous claim that ‘No-one wants to grow up to be Gary Neville.’
He wrote: ‘What a time to be a right back!! ‘ No-one wants to grow up to be Gary Neville ‘ will go down with ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ in Punditry folklore @carra
4 Right backs in the Squad!
Some felt the decision to name four right-backs, including Trent Alexander-Arnold, wasn’t necessary
Gary Lineker wished the squad good luck and called upon the players selected to do the country proud.
He wrote: ‘Congratulations to those selected for England’s wonderful young squad. Good luck to all of you. Go do your country proud.’
Ian Wright commented on a ‘proud moment’ for the players selected. He wrote: ‘Proud moment for everyone in the squad & their families. Congratulations!!! C’mon England!!!’.
One supporter questioned England’s goalkeeping options and their defence. They wrote: ‘Weakest goalkeeper and central defence England squad for a long time. Maybe ever?’.
One fan disagreed with Neville about the inclusion of four right-backs. They wrote: ‘4 Right backs but only 2 Strikers? And no Lingard!? Very strange…’
Some supporters weren’t happy with Southgate’s choice to include Tyrone Mings in the squad
Tyrone Mings was included in the squad, which wasn’t well received in some quarters.
One fan wrote: ‘Obviously everyone has different opinions on who Southgate should take to the Euros, but I think we can all agree that Tyrone Mings should be nowhere near the England squad.’
Some felt that Everton defender Godfrey should have been chosen ahead of Conor Coady.
A Twitter user wrote: ‘Conor coady getting in the england squad is a joke. Ben Godfrey should be there in place of him.’
The decision to include Alexander-Arnold, meanwhile, was widely praised, with one user writing: ‘Trent is by far England’s best right back and one of the most creative players, the notion that he may have been dropped due to lack of form is ridiculous.’
Some bemoaned the decision not to include James Ward-Prowse given his impressive set-pieces
One supporter bemoaned the decision to not include Ward-Prowse given the Southampton midfielder’s capabilities from set-pieces. They wrote: ‘Dropping Ward-Prowse still hurts me. They have very good attacking players who’d win them set pieces and there’s no better person for that other than WP imo.’
