Gareth Southgate has made his response after Gary Lineker’s indirectly called out the former England boss in praising Lee Carsley.
Carsley, who has stepped up to the role from the Under-21s after Lineker resigned following the Euro 2024 final, has made it two wins out of two in his short reign so far.
The former Birmingham midfielder made some brave choices to his squad with players such as Angel Gomes and Noni Madueke making their debuts.
Most notably, however, has been the inclusion of Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back – who starred against Finland as both goals came from the Liverpool star’s passes.
Gareth Southgate has hit back at Gary Lineker’s comments
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But the defender had largely been left out of the England squad under Southgate while Lineker was over the moon to see the Three Lions ramp up their efforts from an attacking point of view.
Southgate has now broken his silence on the comments in one of his first public appearances since resigning the England post.
“I’ve really shut myself off from everything since I left. There’s no point in me talking about the team now,” Southgate said.
“It’s for me to let other people take over and to give them the space to take the team on to the next challenges.
“And there’s no point in me getting involved in anything like that [Lineker’s comments].
“I think it’s important in these moments that I left on good terms with everybody. I loved the experience but also it’s time to go and do other things now.”
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Southgate led England to two finals at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 but failed to win either while his style of play has been criticised for being too ponderous.
And speaking on his podcast Rest is Football, Lineker named the three things fans were left angered by over the European Championship in the summer.
“It’s interesting as well, isn’t it, that perhaps some of the things fans were most disappointed about in the Euros, well, probably three things maybe more,’ the Match of the Day host said.
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Gary Lineker had criticised Gareth Southgate’s reluctance to play Trent Alexander-Arnold
Rest is Football
“But everyone wanted Anthony Gordon to play on the left because we all saw a weakness and an unbalance on that side.
“And also that he can run behind players because Kane likes to come short and you’ve got to have a threat behind so he did that.
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Lee Carsley has won both games in charge of England
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“The other thing was he [Southgate] left Jack Grealish out of the squad which a lot of people were bemused by and he’s come in and performed really well.
“And obviously, he never really trusted Trent Alexander-Arnold. In the first game Carsley has come up with all these things and a lot of us are going ‘you see? We told you’.”
England are not in action now until October where Carsley will get another chance to impress FA bosses.