Gary Lineker and Micah Richards respond to viewers' complaints over BBC coverage of England win vs Switzerland

Micah Richards and Gary Lineker have hit bak at criticism of their overage of England's Euro 2024 defeat of Switzerland.

On Saturday England squeezed into the semi-finals of Euro 2024 after eliminating Switzerland via a penalty shootout.

Gareth Southgate's side looked set for elimination when Breel Embolo put the Swiss ahead after 75 minutes, but Bukayo Saka soon equalised with a fine strike to send the match to extra-time.

England retreated and hung on for penalties, with all five of their takers scoring and Jordan Pickford saving one.

England have been widely criticised for their performances in Germany, but their first half display in the quarter-final showed signs of improvement.

During BBC's live coverage of the game, Gary Lineker, Micah Richards, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand analysed England's opening 45 minutes, but plenty of viewers said they were far too positive about Southgate's side.

Lineker described the Three Lions as "terrific", while Rio Ferdinand said it was a "huge improvement."

During his analysis at the break, Richards said: "I highlighted before the game what Switzerland could do. England have just not allowed them to do the rotations, dropping into positions, playing the right passes.

"They’ve had no shots on target, Switzerland. So England are doing a really good job."

Former England international Jamie Carragher couldn't believe what he was hearing. He posted on X: "On the BBC England are 2-0 up, on Twitter England are 0-1 down!"

Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Richards and Lineker discussed the criticism of their 'positive' analysis.

"We got a little bit of… I wouldn’t say stick, people were saying we were a little too positive for England."

Lineker said: "Before they were saying we were a little bit too negative. There are always going to be people who will disagree with you."

Lineker, Richards and Ferdinand were criticised over their comments. (BBC)

Richards replied: "Yeah, but I think it’s nice to explain. Ok terms of the first game, Serbia, we all had huge expectations of what England were going to do, they weren’t great.

"Then we had Denmark who were really organised. Then we had Slovenia and we see in their system, 4-4-2, they defend really deep in a low block, difficult to break down. Then we have Slovakia where of course last-minute brilliance from Bellingham and Kane wins it in extra time.

"When I said England were brilliant I’m comparing them to the previous four games. I’m not saying they were the finished article.

"All the things you mentioned, higher up the pitch, Foden as the No.10, all the things we’ve been crying out for. Maybe if we were being really picky would we have put Trent Alexander-Arnold on the right-wing-back, I think that would’ve been perfect for him but then you lose Saka and he played so well.

"Obviously the positive is Luke Shaw coming back into the side as well, looked like he had not been away from football for the time he has.

"So I like to clarify what we meant. We were in the emotion of the game at the time. It was just a better performance.

"In terms of Southgate, could he make his subs earlier? Yes, we agree with that."

Lineker added: "I think the second half was nowhere near as good as the first half."