Alan Shearer calls for two England stars to be handed their first starts at Euro 2024 in the last-16... as he insists Gareth Southgate 'has to make changes' after dire group stage performances

Alan Shearer wants Gareth Southgate to hand two England players their first starts at Euro 2024 in the last-16 on Sunday.

England secured top spot in Group C on Tuesday night, but delivered another underwhelming performance as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Slovenia.

This followed on from a narrow 1-0 win against Serbia and a dire 1-1 draw with Denmark as Southgate's men failed to click in attack.

Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer came off the bench for the first time on Tuesday and both made positive impacts, and Shearer believes they both deserve a starting berth this weekend.

'I've said before a ball was kicked, I'd have played Gordon on the left-hand side,' Shearer told the BBC on Wednesday.

'For me, he has to now start. Palmer has to start on the right-hand side, and maybe time to rest Saka. He played really well for thirty-odd minutes in the first game but has done very little since.'

Shearer also believes Southgate has a problem to solve in midfield after Conor Gallagher was hauled off at half time in Cologne.

His replacement, Kobbie Mainoo, delivered an assured display in the second half, and Shearer feels he should be in contention to start in the knockout stages.

This could be a tight call for Southgate, but Shearer is adamant that the England boss must change something to start getting a tune out of his team. 

'I would have either Bellingham or Mainoo in that midfield, and then have Foden in the 10 role,' Shearer continued.

'But he has to make changes because what he's been doing hasn't worked.'

BBC presenter Gary Lineker agreed with Shearer's statement, just hours after being accused by his colleague of being afraid of backlash after he praised England's performance against Slovenia. 

Lineker caused a stir last week when he labelled England's showing against Denmark 's***', with Harry Kane hitting back as he called for ex-players to be more responsible with their choice of words.

But this time Lineker was more positive, as he said on The Rest is Football podcast: 'I think there were signs in that performance that I quite liked. In the second half, I thought you could see that if this team continue to play a high press, chances will come.

'We may have been playing that way because Slovenia knew that a draw would get them through, so they were cautious and sat back a bit, I understand that.

'But I saw enough to suggest that England are improving slightly. I think there were downsides, but I think there were real positives.'

Shearer was having none of it as he teased Lineker by replying: 'If I was a cynic, one would say one was frightened of getting criticised again.'

Lineker denied this was the case, and conceded England still have a number of issues to fix if they are to go all the way in Germany.