Gary Neville reckons England would be far better off at Euro 2024 were it not for a “really poor” decision from Erik ten Hag at Manchester United last season.

England finished top of their group in Germany but failed to convince in any of their three games save for the first 30 minutes against Serbia, and then needed a 95th-minute goal from Jude Bellingham against Slovakia in the last 16 to prevent them being dumped out of the tournament before Harry Kane struck in extra time to send them through.

England struggles without Shaw

Southgate is considering a formation change for their quarter-final against Switzerland to fix their lack of fluency, which Neville reckons is in large part due to the absence of Luke Shaw.

Right-back Kieran Trippier has played in the United star’s stead as he recovers from a hamstring problem and has rendered England’s left flank almost entirely useless thanks to him having to cut inside every time he gets the ball.

Shaw hasn’t featured for club or country since aggravating a hamstring injury in Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Luton Town in mid-February having gone off with the same issue the week before against Aston Villa.

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Let’s all blame Ten Hag

Ten Hag asked Shaw to play against Luton, something the left-back has since admitted he regrets agreeing to, and Neville insists that “really poor” call from the Red Devils boss has created a huge problem for Gareth Southgate.

“That left side has been blocked,” he said on ITV. “When Phil Foden comes inside, the biggest problem is we don’t have a natural left-footed left-back going outside him.

“It was the same for Manchester United all season with Marcus Rashford. Luke Shaw is such an important player for United and Rashford. We’ve miss that badly [at the Euros].

“I couldn’t believe he played in that game. He should never have played in that game.

“I was travelling to Luton that day thinking he was out. He had to go off and you’re thinking, ‘what’s going on there?’ It was really poor.”