Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher had a bit of a difficult Euro 2024 campaign.
Conor Gallagher only started one game for England, and it was a match where he ended up getting taken off at half-time.
The 24-year-old was disappointed with his substitution, but Gallagher says he understood Gareth Southgate’s decision to withdraw him in that 0-0 draw with Slovenia.
He was going to be brought on in England’s 2-1 loss to Spain in the final. But after Spain took the lead, Southgate had a rethink and went with Ivan Toney instead.
Gary Lineker discussed Southgate’s plan to bring on Gallagher against Spain, questioning why he thought about it.
What Gareth Southgate assured Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher and Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold
Like Gallagher, Trent Alexander-Arnold also had to deal with being taken off at the European Championship.
He actually started England’s first two games but eventually lost his spot in the team.
According to The Athletic, though, Southgate assured both a “deeply disappointed” Gallagher and Alexander-Arnold that they would still have important contributions to make.
The same outlet claims that the Three Lions boss was pleased by both players’ response.
Should Gareth Southgate have given Conor Gallagher more game time?
Defensively and in midfield, England did pretty well at Euro 2024.
It was in attack where they could have done a bit better. Combined, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka only scored two goals.
Foden did not net at all and failed to register a single assist either.
When you consider that, leaving Gallagher out of the team was obviously not the problem. The player who Southgate needed to give more minutes to was Gallagher’s Chelsea teammate Cole Palmer.
Despite failing to make a single start during the competition, Palmer was still able to come up with a goal and assist, scoring in the final.
Last season, he recorded 40 goal contributions in total for Chelsea. That is the man Southgate needed to trust in Germany.
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