View: Southgate’s Calvert-Lewin snub will leave Everton fans fuming
Gareth Southgate appears to have snubbed Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin after England’s 2-0 win against Germany.
The Three Lions came up with the goods to defeat the Germans on Wednesday in a Round of 16 Euro 2020 game.
A notable omission from the matchday squad was Calvert-Lewin. Southgate named two keepers on the bench, but opted against going for their only other recognised centre-forward.
After the game, having congratulated his players, he came face-to-face with the Everton striker who offered his hand, but Southgate seemed to walk past him.
Just bad timing?
We’re not sure what happened here or whether something’s gone on behind the scenes between the two Englishmen.
For starters, not including him in your 23 man squad that consisted of three centre-backs is pretty surprising.
He’s tried playing Marcus Rashford down the middle and that’s not worked out too well, leaving Calvert-Lewin the only other recognised option to play down the middle.
Harry Kane looked to be having another quiet game before he finally turned up with the goods to put the game beyond all doubt. However, if Southgate had considered substituting him as he did in the game vs Scotland, there wouldn’t be number nine to bring on.
It could be that something’s taken place behind the scenes that led to him dropping him and then eventually snubbing him.
However, given the fact that the Everton forward happily went to shake his hand suggests that Southgate probably didn’t see it and there’s nothing more to read between the lines.
That said, Southgate should consider having him on the bench for the next game as Ukraine could play a low block and the Three Lions will need a tall target man to feed off scraps as Andriy Shevchenko’s men aren’t going to offer too much space between the lines in the quarter-finals.
In other Everton news, Toffees want to sign highly-rated talent at cash-strapped club, 22 G+A last season – report
Be sure to follow Goodison News on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on Everton and more exclusive interviews with Kevin Campbell.