has described ’s decision to not play a high-pressing style with as ‘inexplicable’ following the 1-1 draw with at .
England sit top of Group C with four points after and look certain to ahead of their final group game against Slovenia next Tuesday.
But the has raised concerns over England’s ability to reach the latter stages of the tournament.
Lineker, who scored 48 goals in 80 appearances for the Three Lions, called England’s display against Denmark ‘lethargic’ and believes Southgate should be ordering to lead the team’s press against opposing sides.
‘I can’t imagine anybody who is English who would’ve enjoyed England’s performance,’ Lineker said on The Rest Is Football podcast.
‘It was lethargic, dour, you can think of all sorts of words, expletives if you like.
‘Was it tactically inept? It’s really hard to be critical of Gareth Southgate because overall in the England role he’s turned England’s fortunes around in many ways.
‘Having said that, he’s ended up adopting a really talented bunch of players. The semi-final of the World Cup, a final at the European Championship, a quarter-final of the subsequent World Cup where, to be honest, we were a little bit unlucky.
‘He’s an amazing leader, he’s a great communicator, he’s transformed the public’s opinion of the national team and the players, he’s been brilliant on that, but tactically the first game, and we’ve seen it on other tournaments as well where England start okay and then get a goal and then everything changes.
‘It’s almost like those tactics of getting a lead and hanging on to it, the game’s moved on from that.
‘What I will say is that I find inexplicable, to be perfectly honest, is we watch Spain play, completely high press, excellent technical players, so have England, why do England not play a high press?
‘They might play it for like three minutes in a game, are they not coached to play that?’
Lineker went on to add: ‘I think he [Southgate] errs on the side of caution, I think I’ve heard him say, ‘many times great expansive teams win football matches with great games, but teams that win tournaments are pragmatic’, I’m not so sure that’s the case any more, it’s moved on, the really good teams now press as a team, they press high, Germany, Spain.
‘Can England do that with Harry Kane? I think you tell Harry Kane you’ve got to do that. Of course he will, he might not do it in as sharp a manner as other players because he’s not that kind of guy, but he’s a great pro, he will understand what his instructions are.
‘I find it, not exasperating, but slightly inexplicable England don’t do that because all their players do it at club level, except for Harry, [Bukayo] Saka at Arsenal, [Declan] Rice at Arsenal, [Jude] Bellingham plays slightly differently at Real Madrid but I think he can do that all day long, you’ve got [Phil] Foden who does that at Manchester City, [Anthony] Gordon does it at Newcastle if you want to bring him because he’s the most natural player to play on that side. They all know how to do that, they all play that way for their club sides, Liverpool play that way, Arsenal play that way, Manchester City in particular play that way – why would you play a different style of football with a bunch of players who are used to playing a high press? I find it weird.’
Despite his concerns over England’s playing style under Southgate, Lineker says the biggest positive from the draw with Denmark was the performance of centre-back Marc Guehi.
‘I would say he was the one exception to the rule,’ Lineker said of Guehi’s display.
‘What a performance, what made it even more special was that the team were struggling.’
‘That [Guehi’s mistake in the first half] was, for me, almost the favourite moment of the game, apart from Harry Kane’s goal, because we were all going, ‘we’re going to do a piece on Marc Guehi, he’s been brilliant, been absolutely superb with and without the ball’. And then he makes a mistake and we go, ‘oh my god, he’s made a mistake’, and then he gets back.
‘He didn’t just panic, he got back really quickly because he’s quick, he waited, chose his moment and his timing was perfect.’
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