‘It worked perfectly’ – Alan Shearer hails Gareth Southgate’s genius tactical switch that saw England thrash Wales

ALAN SHEARER led the praise for Gareth Southgate’s genius tactical tweak that gave England the key to break through Wales.

The Three Lions had struggled to create in the first-half as Rob Page’s side sat deep and looked to nick an unexpected World Cup result.

But the floodgates opened in the second half as quick-fire goals from Marcus Rashford and Phil Foden finally gave England control of the match.

A brilliant individual goal by the Manchester United forward later in the half put the game to bed, with England qualifying top of their World Cup group.

Rashford and Foden were at the centre of a crucial half-time tactical switch.

The two emerged on opposite flanks after the break and led to the pair being central to all three goals.

Pundit Shearer was impressed at the in-game tactics from the England manager.

Speaking on the BBC, the former Three Lions striker said: “Gareth Southgate takes criticism at times for not making substitutions at the right time, etcetera, but he made a decision at half-time to switch Foden and Rashford over and it worked perfectly.

“He also made a decision to start them because as said before there has been a lot of clamour to get Foden into the team, it’s worked perfectly.

“He got the results with England scoring goals again and credit where it’s due.”

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The inclusion of the two was also a big call by Southgate who opted to make some changes after the bore draw with the US.

Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling were among those who were dropped to the bench, while Jordan Henderson got his first start of the tournament.

Southgate now has a selection headache ahead of the last-16 game against Senegal whether to revert to tried and trusted tournament stars like Sterling or keep faith with the same side who dominated Wales.

If Foden starts the England boss may also need to make a call on his position, with the Manchester City star in open disagreement with his manager over where he should play.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk