Kieran Trippier took part in England training on Saturday but it remains to be seen whether the defender will be risked for Sunday’s Euro 2024 last-16 tie against Slovakia.
Trippier missed training on Friday due to a calf injury that disrupted the end of his domestic season with Newcastle, but he has still managed to start each of England’s three matches in the tournament.
Although he took part in Saturday’s training session along with the rest of England’s 26-man squad, it’s thought Gareth Southgate will turn to Ezri Konsa as a makeshift left-back ahead of Liverpool’s versatile defender Joe Gomez if Trippier is not fully fit.
Selecting Konsa in that position would be a bold move from Southgate given the fact the Villa defender has not played as a left-back in the past five years of league and European football.
Konsa revealed this week he filled in there a couple of times at Charlton, but at Brentford and Villa all of his football has been played at centre-back or right-back.
Luke Shaw, who this week declared himself available for the game in Gelsenkirchen, also took part in Saturday’s training session, but his involvement from the start against Slovakia is unlikely.
Sky Sports News has been told Southgate is planning to resist the clamour from outside for wholesale changes, as England begin the knockout phase of the tournament.
Increasingly likely Mainoo will start against Slovakia
Assuming Trippier is fit to play, Kobbie Mainoo in for Conor Gallagher may be the only change from the starting XI that disappointingly drew 0-0 with Slovenia in the final group game on Tuesday.
That would mean Chelsea’s Cole Palmer will have to bide his time on the bench again despite being praised by Southgate for the impact he made when he came on during the second half in Cologne.
Conor Gallagher and Kobbie Mainoo’s pass maps against Slovenia at Euro 2024
Phil Foden took part in training again on Saturday in Blankenhain after returning to the camp after two days back home with his partner, following the birth of their third child. He is expected to be available for selection.
Much could change in Southgate’s mind over his team selection, but it’s understood his overall feeling is to resist the noise from outside to make wholesale changes, with the manager minded instead to tweak the team which he thinks is his strongest option.
Southgate’s left-back gamble and why Shaw’s return is crucial
Sky Sports feature writer Nick Wright:
England’s turgid displays at Euro 2024 have been criticised but there is one area in which they are excelling. Defensively, they have given very little away, conceding only once in three games and allowing fewer expected goals against than any other side.
Kieran Trippier has played his part in their stinginess, defending well, for the most part, as a makeshift left-back. The problem, both for him and the team more broadly, is that any positives, defensively, have been outweighed by glaring issues in possession.
Trippier, a right-footer naturally inclined to look inside from the left-back position and unable to offer a genuine threat on the overlap, encapsulates those issues. It is why news of Luke Shaw’s availability against Slovakia, even if only as a substitute, comes as such a boost.
His absence with a hamstring injury has proved a major headache for Gareth Southgate, who has had to delay his return to the fold despite initial hopes he might recover in time to feature during the group stage. Without a natural alternative in the left-back position – more on that later – the side’s attack has been stymied.
The impact is clear when comparing England’s attacking locations at the tournament so far to those at the 2022 World Cup, when Shaw started all five games. In his absence in Germany, the side’s attacks down the left flank have become fewer and less effective.
England’s average positions show the difference between Luke Shaw and Kieran Trippier
It is no coincidence that their only goals so far, scored by Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane and set up by Bukayo Saka and Kyle Walker respectively, have come from the right.
The lack of balance on the left has been striking.
Read why Luke Shaw’s return could be key and how Gareth Southgate’s Ben Chilwell gamble backfired
Saka: I’m not the answer at left-back
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Bukayo Saka has his say on whether he thinks he should replace the injured Kieran Trippier at left-back for England
Bukayo Saka insists he is not the solution to England’s left-back conundrum.
With Luke Shaw, the only recognised left-back in Southgate’s ranks, still working back to full fitness having been sidelined with a hamstring injury since February, the England manager may need someone else to step in.
Saka, 22, who has since gone on to become on of the top players in Europe on the right wing, does not see himself as the answer.
“I don’t think putting me out of position is the solution,” he said after a number of pundits had called for Southgate to make the change.
“At the end of the day, I think we can talk about this but it’s in Gareth’s hands so we will just have to trust whoever Gareth selects on the day.”