Gabby Agbonlahor now says 'painful' Newcastle man should not play against Slovakia on Sunday

The group stages of Euro 2024 concluded last night and England's first knock-out opponents were confirmed to be Slovakia with the sides to battle it out for a place in the next round on Sunday at 5pm.

England have looked unconvincing to say the least this tournament, but in truth there have only been a couple of sides who have genuinely impressed.

The Three Lions may be feeling fortunate to have avoided one of the more difficult sides for the first knock-out round, but even with Martin Dubravka in goal, Slovakia won't be pushovers.

There have been many calls for Gareth Southgate to make changes for Sunday, namely in attack, but one man who has come in for a lot of stick is Kieran Trippier.

Kieran Trippier is having a torrid time at Euro 2024

Trippier is playing out of position as a left-back and it is seriously hampering his effectiveness as one of Trippier's key strengths is his ability to whip in a pinpoint cross, but on his weaker foot out on the left, he has to cut inside to do that, and it's predictable and slows down the attack. This has led to clashes with Phil Foden and Declan Rice.

But with Southgate only taking the injured Luke Shaw as a recognised left-back, he is short of options to change things up, however, it has been floated that Bukayo Saka could fill in at right back with Kyle Walker switching to the left. It's certainly not a popular opinion.

Joe Gomez could also start ahead of Trippier at left-back to give them something new to work with.

Is it time for Southgate to try something new and drop Trippier?

Former Aston Villa striker and TalkSPORT pundit Gabby Agbonlahor has now said that he finds it 'painful' to watch Trippier struggle out on that left flank.

“I agree with [the criticism of] Trippier, it’s painful watching him at left-back, just cuts inside every time. Listen, playing the Netherlands, I would’ve said no, but for one game only, we’re playing Slovakia who are going to sit back, not got much going forward, I wouldn’t mind [Saka at left-back] for one game."

Obviously, we've got a lot of love for Trippier for what he's done at Newcastle, but we're not blind to the fact that he's far from the player he was when he first arrived at St James' Park, and he's really struggling at Euro 2024. It may be time to admit that Trippier on the left isn't working and it's time to try something new.