Newcastle United star Anthony Gordon has spent most of Euro 2024 on the sidelines for England.
Despite a brief cameo in which he impressed against Slovenia, Gordon has been limited to a bench role under Gareth Southgate.
There has been clamour for him from the likes of Alan Shearer and people close to the England squad have reportedly been questioning why he hasn’t featured more often.
Still, Southgate has so far largely stuck with Phil Foden, despite criticism of the Manchester City’s man performances.
Eberechi Eze and Jarrod Bowen have both been brought on ahead of the Newcastle star, even amid a pretty underwhelming time of things for the Three Lions thus far.
Such has been the disappointing nature of their performances, Southgate is reportedly considering switching to a three-man defensive unit for the game with Switzerland on Saturday – which could in fact spell bad news for Kieran Trippier too.
Now, even more insight has emerged.
England team vs Switzerland is bad news for Newcastle duo
According to Miguel Delaney’s Reading The Game newsletter (first posted by The Independent), Gordon is again set to be overlooked.
It is claimed that Foden and Jude Bellingham will continue behind Harry Kane, with Bukayo Saka operating at left-wing back and Trent Alexander-Arnold doing the same on the right.
That likely means Gordon is almost certain to have to settle for a place on the bench.
Anthony Gordon has already told Gareth Southgate how good he can be
Clearly, a change in system could work for England and all the disappointment of the first few games will be forgotten.
Still, Southgate’s refusal to turn to Gordon for any meaningful time does seem strange.
As the player himself has stressed, he can cause nightmares for defenders.
Whether or not that answers every problem is up for debate but it surely cannot have hurt.
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