'THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T MAKE CHANGES' - GARETH SOUTHGATE FIRES BACK AT CRITICS AFTER JUDE BELLINGHAM'S OVERHEAD KICK HEROICS GET ENGLAND OUT OF JAIL IN EUROS LAST-16 AGAINST SLOVAKIA

WHAT HAPPENED?

England are into the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 but had to do it the hard way against Slovakia. The Three Lions trailed for most of the match and only managed to force extra-time when Bellingham grabbed an equaliser in the 95th minute. Harry Kane then headed home the winner for the Three Lions to complete the comeback.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Bellingham scored a brilliant overhead kick to level the tie for England but had otherwise put in an unusually poor performance for Southgate's side. The manager, who has been criticised for his reluctance to changes his team, revealed afterwards that he had thought about taking Bellingham off but felt vindicated after leaving him on and seeing him score against Slovakia.

WHAT SOUTHGATE SAID

He told BBC Sport: "With 15 minutes to go you wonder if he is out on his feet. Him and Harry Kane produce those moments and that is why you don't makes changes when people are clamouring for more changes. We had enough attacking players on the pitch.

"We were thinking should we take him off, but you know he is capable of those sorts of moments. We know in the game itself we needed to better with the ball, we couldn’t find the right solutions in the first half and we did it better in the second.

"Under that pressure they kept probing. In the end it is the old fashioned long throw that gets the goal, those moments can happen when you keep wearing a team down."

DID YOU KNOW?

Bellingham has now scored six times in second-half stoppage time in the 2023-24 campaign for club and country. All six goals have either put his team in front or been equalisers.

WHAT NEXT FOR ENGLAND

Southgate and England now head into a quarter-final tie with Switzerland. It remains to be seen if Southgate will make changes to his team for the match, with England into the last eight but yet to really impress in Germany despite boasting a squad packed full of talent.