Despite an underwhelming start to the Euros, England progressed to the knockout stages as Group C winners and have been rewarded with a favourite last-16 tie against Slovakia.
A possible quarter-final against Switzerland or Euro 2020 winners Italy awaits as Gareth Southgate looks to inspire an unlikely run to the final and end the nation’s 58-year wait for a men’s major trophy.
Southgate’s team selections out in Germany have come under intense scrutiny and Hamann says there is a ‘case’ to be made that Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden should all be dropped.
The ex-Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Germany midfielder also reckons England fans have seen the last of Conor Gallagher despite the Chelsea star featuring in all three group games.
Gallagher, who captained Chelsea for much of last season, came on as a second-half substitute against Serbia and Denmark, before replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold in England’s starting line-up against Slovenia, only to be hauled off at the break.
‘If you stick to these big players and they clearly don’t perform, I think there’s a case to drop them,’ Hamann told RTE. ‘I think there’s a case to drop Foden, Bellingham, and Kane.
‘As a manager, if you want to get the respect of the whole squad, you have got to go after the big boys. If you go after the small boys, people won’t respect you.
‘I think he’s at a stage now where the public have lost faith in him, the pundits have lost faith in him and England, and the team have lost faith in him as well.
‘Some of the substitutions you can’t follow, you don’t know what he’s thinking.
‘I think the biggest problem is; they’ve got Foden and Bellingham in the same team. It clearly doesn’t work, but he hasn’t got the bottle to drop either of them.
‘I think he’s got to take one of them out, or move Bellingham a bit further back, but he doesn’t want to do this because for some reason he thinks Bellingham has to play in a position behind Kane.
‘If he drops one of the two, that gives him a chance to bring Palmer in, bring Gordon in, bring Eze in, whoever. You’ve got so many players. Jarrod Bowen came on last week and set up the chance for Kane and he doesn’t do it.
‘Gallagher isn’t or wasn’t a problem. He’s not the problem of that England team.
‘It’s probably too late now. If you go after the lesser players, it doesn’t look good on the manager, and that’s what he’s done in the tournament.
‘He’s taken Alexander-Arnold, he’s an easy target. Gallagher comes off at half-time. We probably don’t see Gallagher again for the rest of the tournament.’
England’s Euro 2024 last-16 opponents Slovakia finished third in Group E, stunning Belgium in their opening game before losing to Ukraine and drawing with Romania.
Manchester City star and Premier League player of the year Phil Foden could miss the Slovakia clash after temporarily leaving Germany to return home for the birth of his third child.
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