5️⃣ big questions for England at Euro 2024 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 | OneFootball

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England travel to Euro 2024 as one of the favourites.

There are though, still plenty of questions for Gareth Southgate to answer …

Who starts in defence?

Gareth Southgate’s first ever tournament game with England was almost exactly six years ago today.

The Three Lions faced Tunisia in Volgograd in what, in retrospect, turned out to be the start of a brave new world for the England men’s side.

Southgate named a back five that day with Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire and Ashley Young playing in front of goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

Over half a decade later, five of those six could start in the first game of Euro 2024.

If things were going well that could be proclaimed as an astonishing feat of consistency – a harkening back to a former age when defenders were older, rougher and more experienced.

For England though, the fact that Southgate has failed to establish any younger blood in those six years could well be their Achilles heel.

With Luke Shaw also a fitness doubt, Southgate could well come into the tournament without a recognised left-back as well as an entirely unchanged defence.

That should be a huge worry.

Is Kobbie Mainoo the midfield answer?

He may have only played 90 minutes of international football, but there’s already clamour for Manchester United midfielder Kobbie Mainoo to start when England face Serbia on June 16.

Mainoo has burst on to the scene this past year with consistently impressive performances for a United side who have, in truth, been anything but.

Despite being regularly exposed in the middle of the park for Erik ten Hag’s side, Mainoo has often been the one player on the pitch who has taken responsibility in and out of possession and showed a real grit in the face of some heavy group criticism.

But then came the FA Cup final.

If there were any doubts as to the 19-year-old’s big game mentality before May’s marquee clash with Manchester City, they were quickly put to bed at Wembley.

Mainoo was sensational in United’s triumph, scoring arguably their Goal of the Season by finishing off a tremendous team move.

That as it may be, Mainoo has barely featured alongside Declan Rice for the national side and it would surely be a huge ask to get those two up to speed together ahead of this summer.

Where does Trent Alexander-Arnold fit in?

If there are questions over Mainoo’s inclusion in the England starting XI could they potentially be salved by Trent Alexander-Arnold?

The Liverpool man has always threatened to be a world class midfielder but was never really given the opportunity to show as such under Jürgen Klopp.

Southgate seems more open to the idea, however, with Alexander-Arnold starting in England’s friendly win over Bosnia and Herzegovina earlier this month and performing really well.

His set-pieces are clearly a weapon that can be utilised in tournament football whilst his range of passing could well come in very handy against attacking sides who leave spaces behind the full-back.

With Rice the guaranteed starter at the base of the Three Lions midfield, Southgate needs to work out what works best alongside the Arsenal man’s bullish work rate and surging runs.

Perhaps Trent sitting in the pocket and acting as England’s Andrea Pirlo could well be the answer to their problems.

Who plays behind Harry Kane?

England are currently blessed with two of the best attacking midfielders in the game.

In fact, it’s hard to think of another time in the nation’s history when two Englishmen have been considered right at the pinnacle of the sport at the very same time.

Even when that was the case – in the 1950s with Billy Wright and Stanley Matthews and the late 1960s with Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton – the pair of players were in very different positions.

Right now though, it’s hard to think of a better duo than Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham.

The only problem now is trying to get the best out of both of them in the same side.

Southgate’s natural inclination seems to be to start Bellingham in behind Harry Kane with Foden out on the left-hand side.

But is pushing Foden out on to the wing neutralising the Premier League’s best player this past season?

Bellingham certainly impressed for Real Madrid earlier this term but over the past few months has looked exhausted by trying to compete on two fronts for Los Blancos.

It could actually make more sense to drop Bellingham into a central midfield role with Foden in the number 10 position and another wide forward in support of Kane.

Whatever the choice, it’s a nice headache to have.

How do England cope with being near-favourites?

Alongside France and Germany, England are favourites with most bookmakers to lift the European Championship trophy on July 14.

More than anything, that says a huge amount about how well Southgate has done over the past six years, taking England from surprise World Cup semi-finalists to one of the best national teams on the planet.

But that next step is the hardest.

The Three Lions’ perennial underachievement in tournaments is a national scar that never seems to heal, with total embarrassments and near-misses never too far away from the consciousness.

After an agonising penalty defeat in the final of Euro 2020 and more spot kick woe in the quarter-final loss to France at the 2022 World Cup, this squad have had to endure their own pain of late.

The trick now is for Southgate and his players to not be cowed by the past and instead use that as fuel for success this summer.