Euro 2024 column: Should Phil Foden be England's number 10?

England view – Marc Iles: Phil Foden visited a psychic in the build-up to Euro 2024 but I could have saved him a few bob: He’s getting stuck out on the left.

The Manchester City star seems certain to shift out wide to accommodate Jude Bellingham as Gareth Southgate’s number 10 and leave Trent Alexander-Arnold to play alongside Declan Rice in holding midfield against Serbia.

He is good enough to affect the game from there, of course, but without a natural left-sided player behind him I can see Foden getting isolated, especially if their opponents sit deep.

Bellingham is without question a jewel in England’s crown but I would have liked to see Southgate play the Real Madrid man deeper and allow Foden the chance to run things behind Harry Kane. This feels a little like he is being sacrificed for the lack of a left-footer elsewhere.

Bukayo Saka always seems happier pulling out to the wings, running at players, testing defenders with explosive bursts of pace and his equally quick feet. When Foden plays wider, he loses something, and his best Premier League performances this season have been in behind Erling Haaland.

Pushing Bellingham into the front line also means there is no attacking slot available for Cole Palmer, England’s most in-form player won’t even be on the pitch.

It all sums up the ‘square peg, round hole’ reservations I have about this squad, and let’s not forget that Alexander-Arnold is hardly a battle-hardened central midfielder, either.

The Liverpool man has plenty of strengths and he looks keen to prove to Southgate that he can be a regular starter, having failed in that target as a full-back. Is he switched on enough, positionally, to handle the best attacking midfielders in this tournament?

As much as I have concerns, England should have plenty enough in the tank to qualify from this group. There are goals everywhere you look in the front five or six players, so I do hope Southgate happens on a settled plan before the knockout stages where the real tests begin.

Serbia picked up an impressive win against Sweden last week but are players like Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Aleksandar Mitrovic really firing at 100 per cent after a season spent in Saudi Arabia, playing – with due respect – against weaker opponents every week.

I expect it to be a typically tight and nervous opening group game where neither side want to lose, and I just hope someone has the creativity to unlock the door for England. It may feel a waste pushing Foden out wide but there are plenty of others who can provide for Kane, who is just about as reliable a player at international level as it is possible to have in your squad.

I think the England skipper will end up getting the goal in an unspectacular game that keeps us all still guessing about the real England for another few days yet.

Italy boss Luciano Spalletti has a host of problems to deal with at the Euros (Image: PA)

Euro View – Marc Iles: A lack of succession planning looks like it is going to cost reigning champions Italy, so don’t be surprised if we see a real shock in Dortmund.

When Roberto Mancini guided the Azzurri to the trophy with a win against England at Wembley in 2021, one of football’s true godfathers looked like it had returned to the head of the table.

But the same team that had been on a record-breaking 27-match unbeaten run going into the last Euros come to Germany looking decidedly wobbly under his successor, Luciano Spalletti.

Mancini quit to take over Saudi Arabia last year having failed to get to the World Cup in Qatar, and the defensive rocks on which success had been built, Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, have long since retired.

Italy lost three of their best defenders, Inter’s Francesco Acerbi, Tottenham’s Destiny Udogie and Atalanta’s Giorgio Scalvini, to injury and have not really impressed in the last couple of months despite avoiding defeat against Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Spalletti has struggled to perform the same magic he had at Napoli and has a similar problem to a few coaches in this tournament in that he is hoping Marco Verratti can return to his best form despite now playing his football in the relative backwaters of Qatar.

Though Frederico Chiesa remains a talisman, there are no out-and-out striker superstars who can guarantee goals, the heavy lifting being done by ex-West Ham flop Gianluca Scamacca.

Albania had a very promising qualifying campaign and are starting to produce players who are affecting leagues across Europe. Backed by a massive following, they must fancy their chances of catching Italy – the stereotypical slow starters – cold in their opening group game.

There always seems to be some off-the-field shenanigans to deal with in an Italy camp, and if Spalletti’s job was not already hard enough, an inquiry into illegal betting has also denied him the services of Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali.

A shock could well be on the cards.

Andros Townsend will be one of the BBC's co-commentators at Euro 2024 (Image: PA)

TV View – Marc Iles: I’m interested to see whether someone can rise to challenge the established commentary order during the Euros, with a few new names dotted around the schedules.

Though Guy Mowbray and Sam Matterface will inevitably get top billing and at some stage in the tournament an online petition will be created to make Clive Tyldesley and Ally McCoist the narrators of all sporting events across eternity, you have to wonder who the next bright young thing of terrestrial TV will be?

Robyn Cowen has done a cracking job on the England women’s games for the BBC and I think she has as good a chance as any to be the breakout press box star in the coming weeks.

ITV are giving Pien Meulensteen a platform and having dealt with her at BBC Radio Manchester loads of times, I know she too is a great operator. I wish her the very best.

Joe Speight and Seb Hutchinson are also getting a push from ITV, the latter much more familiar for his work on Sky Sports, but both very safe pairs of hands.

There are some new-ish names in the co-commentary chair, too. The Beeb have largely stuck with tried and tested – Jenas, Murphy, Keown, McFadden – but will be using Alan Shearer outside the studio for a change.

I’m more interested to see how Andros Townsend does as ITV’s co-comm wildcard. I desperately want them to find a successor to Lee Dixon, who is disappearing down a Mark Lawrenson hole of ennui, and poor Ally can’t spread his enthusiasm across 20-odd games, can he?