England and Germany played a rather cagy round-of-16 match at Wembley which saw the Three Lions come away victorious, 2-0.
The important victory felt out of reach for much of the game for this English side and it had fans and players alike wondering if Southgate had picked the right XI for this clash. Norwegian and Borussia Dortmund superstar Erling Haaland took to Twitter to voice his opinion on what the England side was missing.
Time to bring on Sancho...
— Erling Haaland (@ErlingHaaland) June 29, 2021
Unfortunately for Haaland, his Dortmund teammate spent another game on the bench watching his fellow countrymen grind out another result with an anemic offense.
Sancho patiently waiting his turn
You would think this England side is flying around scoring goals for fun at this Euros when you consider the fact that Jadon Sancho — who tallied 16 goals and 19 assists in 38 appearances for Dortmund this season — has only played six minutes this summer for his country.
There is plenty of attacking options and depth in this English team, perhaps more so than ever before, but after scoring only two goals in the group stage and being outshot by the likes of Scotland and the Czech Republic, you would assume Gareth Southgate would look to his bench to freshen up his attack.
Raheem Sterling has been the only consistent attacking threat for this team, so it makes sense he has kept his starting spot on the left-wing. The target man role is filled by Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Dominic Calvert-Lewin and this is not the role I see, or even want to see, Sancho take over.
So, all that’s left is the ever-changing right-winger position.
Manchester City’s Phil Foden and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka have now shared two starts as that right-winger. Both Foden and Saka offer something different and can stretch the field, turn and beat defenders and retain possession when needed.
With two high-quality players ahead of him why should Sancho get a look?
Foden and Saka have managed a combined two total attempts at goal — both coming from Foden — in a total of 287 minutes according to UEFA.com. That is simply not good enough to ensure that football will be “coming home”.
Sancho had a more impactful season statistically when compared to Foden and Saka. Foden finished his 2020/21 campaign with 16 goals and 10 assists in 50 appearances while Saka ended with 7 goals and 10 assists in 46 appearances.
I’m well aware these stats don’t tell the whole, or even half, the story about how effective and well Foden and Saka played this season, but I am more so concerned with the mileage on those wingers’ legs.
Sancho had significantly fewer appearances than the EPL duo and still had more direct goal involvements. With the current English attacking rotation looking rather stale at times and failing to create a number of quality chances, I think it’s time to see if the Bundesliga winger can provide a spark to the side.
We know he has the talent and he should have the fresher legs out of the three of them so will Southgate free him from the shackles of his bench? Or will the so-called Premier League favoritism continue to reign supreme when it comes to selecting the English starters?
England will take on Ukraine in the quarterfinals this Saturday, July 3 at 3:00 p.m. ET.