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Topics: Bukayo Saka, England, Cole Palmer, Ian Wright
Gareth Southgate has the chance to "activate" England's attack at Euro 2024, according to Ian Wright – and his idea involves deploying Bukayo Saka at left-back.
England will go into the last-16 of this summer's tournament in Germany without a great deal of momentum.
After picking up a win and two draws, the Three Lions finished ahead of Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia in Group C but their performances have left much to be desired.
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They failed to score a single goal in the second-half of any of their group games and recorded a lower xG than any other side that has qualified for the knockout stages.
Anthony Gordon even admitted that the squad have yet to "click" on the pitch as they continue to struggle in attacking areas.
After the full-time whistle on Tuesday night, ITV pundit and former Arsenal striker Ian Wright came up with a solution that would allow in-form Chelsea winger Cole Palmer to be involved.
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"As great as Saka has done for England in terms of what he creates and his goals and assists, he is a natural left sided player," Wright began.
"He started playing for England on the left at youth level, he started at Arsenal on the left. If that’s going to give you the balance and gets you Cole Palmer in the team, it’s something you have to at least look at.
"Yes, Kyle Walker can play there [at left-back], it’s the same situation where you have the player coming inside, you have no one going around. He’s a natural left-footer Saka, we could activate the whole left side."
Saka played at left-back for England's youth teams and was effective as a left wing-back in the early stages of his international career.
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Palmer, meanwhile, delivered an impressive cameo performance on his Euro 2024 debut after replacing Saka in the 71st minute.
Kobbie Mainoo was full of praise for the Chelsea man in his post-match interview.
“He’s electric and you’ve seen in the Premier League what he can do and he’s continuing to do that. He’s one of the best in training, he’s never eased off the gas,” he told ITV.
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"Me and Cole, we are ready. We are ready like the rest of the lads are for when we are called upon. We train hard and when we get our chances we try to impress and help the team as much as possible."