Capello warns Southgate and Alexander-Arnold ahead of England’s EURO 2024 debut | OneFootball

Former England coach Fabio Capello believes the Three Lions will be ‘under pressure’ against Serbia and that their players will be tired while Trent Alexander-Arnold can be ‘helpful or harmful’ depending on his position on the pitch.

England make their EURO 2024 debut against Dusan Vlahovic’s Serbia on Sunday night and Capello is among the Sky Sport Italia pundits in Gelsenkirchen.

This is England’s first game as European vice-champions as the Three Lions lost the EURO 2020 Final to Italy three years ago.

“England always have great pressure and players are usually tired after a tough Premier League season,” said the ex-Italian coach.

“I think they have problems in defence right now, so it’s going to be a good test tonight. Serbia are not an easy team to face. They have experienced and quality players, plus, I don’t know how the goalkeeper will be.”

Capello is not a fan of Jordan Pickford who starts in goal for England tonight. The Everton keeper casually continued his warm-up right behind Capello on the touchline, so the Italian coach laughed and said: “He’s going to kick me now!”

Capello continued his analysis on the English squad, focusing on Trent Alexander-Arnold, who starts in the middle of the park.

“He used to move in midfield from the right-back position, and he played well in that position under Jurgen Klopp,” said Capello.

“However, he doesn’t perform at the highest level there. He has great vision and can shoot from a distance, so this is an extra weapon because of his great technical quality.

“He is accustomed to playing in a defensive line, which is helpful. In midfield, he’ll find opponents who are more creative, and his position can be helpful or harmful, depending on where he stays.”

Earlier on Sunday, Capello had commented on Italy’s win over Albania. The Azzurri started their EURO 2024 campaign on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory in Dortmund thanks to goals from Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolò Barella.