Soccer
Jamie O'Hara pushes to drop Phil Foden and play young England star for clash against Denmark
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England return to action this afternoon in their second group game against Denmark in Frankfurt.
Much has been made of England's opening game performance, where after a bright start that saw Jude Bellingham give his team the lead, the side then laboured to a 1-0 win over Serbia.
A lot of questions have been aimed in the direction of Phil Foden after his disappointing display, so much so that former Premier League midfielder Jamie O'Hara believes Gareth Southgate should drop the Man City man for the Group D clash.
Talking to Grosvenor Sport, O'Hara made a case for starting Newcastle's Anthony Gordan on the left side of attack, in place of the Premier League's Player of the Year.
“For me, you’ve got to start Anthony Gordon at left wing over Phil Foden,” he said.
“Gordon has had a great season for Newcastle – he works hard, he’s direct and he makes things happen. He’s good enough for this level and I would drop Phil Foden for him – as mad as that sounds.
“I think that in an England shirt Foden has to be better, whether he plays in his best position or out of position, he’s a top player and he’s good enough to make things happen no matter where he is on a football pitch.
“I do feel for him, you’re asking him to play in an unnatural position on the opposite side to where he has played all season, but there were moments in the game where he was giving the ball away from simple passes and just wasn’t making anything happen.
“You have to drop a player sometimes for the balance of the team, you’re not going to drop Jude Bellingham from the 10 or Bukayo Saka from the right and he won’t have Declan Rice sitting on his own, so he needs to be dropped and used as that impact sub off the bench like Marcus Rashford was at the World Cup, Foden needs to become that impact player and Gordon needs to start instead.”
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