Cesc Fabregas expressed confusion over Gareth Southgate’s strategic choices in England’s narrow 1-0 triumph against Serbia in Euro 2024.
England, far from looking like the tournament favourites, had to toil for their initial Group C victory.
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Former Chelsea star Fabregas criticized the lack of game time for Cole Palmer, who was left on the bench in Gelsenkirchen despite recently being awarded the Premier League Young Player of the Season.
Southgate, despite having five substitution slots, made only three changes: Conor Gallagher replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jarrod Bowen took over from Bukayo Saka, and Kobbie Mainoo came on for Jude Bellingham, who scored the sole goal of the match.
“If you send the message in putting in a defensive midfielder or an extra defender to cover the result, you will as a player feel it,” said Fabregas in his appearance on the BBC’s match coverage (via the Mirror).
“Mentally you start going back, dropping more. But instead if you put an offensive player, Palmer let’s say, up the pitch and controlling the ball in the final third, I think the players get so much more comfortable.”
Fabregas also singled out Phil Foden for criticism: “It’s about do you want it enough to make a difference and hold the ball for your team? Do you want to make things happen? Do you enjoy to get the ball under pressure?”
“They allowed them to have the ball when they were deep once in the second half, straight away, when they started to get pressed a little bit more, we started to see Foden hitting the ball without looking 40 yards.”
Drawing comparisons with his former Barcelona teammates, Fabregas urged Foden to shoulder more responsibility: “You’ll never see Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, the top, top players in the last 15, 20, years, do that,” he said. “You need to take this responsibility to grow.”
Fabregas added: “I think that the second half was a little bit underwhelming. I would say that is the right word. And I think players like Foden, they need to step up. This is the time for them to go into big tournaments with their country behind them.”
Southgate and his squad have a vital three-day period to address any problems ahead of their key Group C encounter with Denmark on Thursday.
The Danes, having unexpectedly tied with the lower-ranked Slovenia in their opener, have the potential to disrupt the group dynamics should they emerge victorious against the Three Lions.
