Gareth Southgate’s side beat Switzerland on penalties to set up a Euro 2024 semi-final tie against the Netherlands at 8pm this Wednesday.
England delivered an improved performance in the first half against Switzerland following their disjointed displays in the tournament so far, and during the half-time analysis, BBC host Gary Lineker described the Three Lions as ‘terrific’, while Rio Ferdinand said it was a ‘huge improvement’.
During his analysis at the break, Richards said: ‘I highlighted before the game what Switzerland could do. England have just not allowed them to do the rotations, dropping into positions, playing the right passes.
‘They’ve had no shots on target, Switzerland. So England are doing a really good job.’
Some viewers were left unhappy with the positive outlook, while Former England international Jamie Carragher, posted on X: ‘On the BBC England are 2-0 up, on Twitter England are 0-1 down!’
Speaking about the criticism he had received in the aftermath of England’s latest win at Euro 2024, Richards said on The Rest is Football podcast: ‘We got a little bit of… I wouldn’t say stick, people were saying we were a little too positive for England.’
Gary Lineker then said: ‘Before they were saying we were a little bit too negative. There are always going to be people who will disagree with you.’
Richards replied: ‘Yeah, but I think it’s nice to explain. Ok terms of the first game, Serbia, we all had huge expectations of what England were going to do, they weren’t great.
‘Then we had Denmark who were really organised. Then we had Slovenia and we see in their system, 4-4-2, they defend really deep in a low block, difficult to break down. Then we have Slovakia where of course last-minute brilliance from Bellingham and Kane wins it in extra time.
‘When I said England were brilliant I’m comparing them to the previous four games. I’m not saying they were the finished article.
ENGLAND’S ROUTE TO EURO 2024 FINAL
SEMI FINAL – July 10 at 8pm
England vs Netherlands
FINAL – July 14 at 8pm
England vs Spain or France
‘All the things you mentioned, higher up the pitch, Foden as the No.10, all the things we’ve been crying out for. Maybe if we were being really picky would we have put Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right-wing-back, I think that would’ve been perfect for him but then you lose Saka and he played so well. Obviously the positive is Luke Shaw coming back into the side as well, looked like he had not been away from football for the time he has.
‘So I like to clarify what we meant. We were in the emotion of the game at the time. It was just a better performance.
‘In terms of Southgate, could he make his subs earlier? Yes, we agree with that.’
Lineker then said: ‘I think the second half was nowhere near as good as the first half.’
Richards replied: ‘No, it wasn’t. But it was a question to the manager – can we impact the game earlier?
‘The problem I saw with this is who do you take off? You don’t really want to take off Foden because he’s playing well, Bellingham can get you a goal at any time. Maybe Kane to stretch them, you don’t want to take off Saka as well.
‘So when I said he was brave in making the subs, normally Southgate would make one sub, but he made three right after the [Switzerland] goal and that was what was more satisfying for me.’
Lineker then said: ‘He [Southgate] tends to be more reactive than proactive.’
‘We were all in the studio saying, ‘he needs to make changes, they’ve gone a bit flat, they’ve lost their energy’.’
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