Southgate 'bottled not taking Grealish' and Lingard 'should have gone over Phillips'

That's the view of former Tottenham man and talkSPORT host Jamie O'Hara following the England squad announcement on Tuesday.

Southgate named his final 26-man squad with some choices raising a few eyebrows.

His selection of four right-backs was one talking point as well as the inclusion of several players struggling for fitness.

Manchester United midfielder Lingard has starred on loan with West Ham and ahad forced his way into March's England squad, but was one of the unlucky seven to not make the final roster.

That decision baffled former Tottenham man O'Hara.

"You've got Jesse Lingard who has dropped out of it and, in my opinion, he's the guy in form," O'Hara told the Sports Bar.

"He wasn't playing at the start of the season and moved to West Ham in January and set it alight.

"He's in great form, he's fresh, he's fit. Jack Grealish is not fit, Jordan Henderson is not fit, Harry Maguire is not fit, Luke Shaw picked up an injury.

"You're talking about players who are not really fit but you have Jesse Lingard, who is 100 per cent fit, flying, wants to play, wants to be involved.

"Let's be real about this right now. Gareth Southgate has picked Jack Grealish because he's bottled not taking him."

O'Hara added that he couldn't understand why Leeds midfielder Kalvin Phillips was in ahead of Lingard.

"Lingard should be in front of Kalvin Phillips," he said.

"You have to take people who are going to make a difference.

"What does Kalvin Phillips do that Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice and Jordan Henderson can't do?"

The expectation will be high ahead of this summer's tournament with England have strength in depth all over the pitch.

Southgate's side reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018, the last major tournament, and then also reached the last four of the Nations League in 2019.

"The pressure is on England this time around," O'Hara added. "When we played in the World Cup and everyone loved it and brought the nation back together and everyone started supporting England again.

"It was because we'd given up hope a little bit. There was no pressure on the team, no one was expecting us to get out the group, then we got to the semi-finals.

"The problem Gareth has now, and he has to get right, is that the pressure is on. These players have come to the fore and are at the top of their game.

"Everyone loves them and expects it, a bit like the golden generation with you Lampards and your Becks, and they struggled. They didn't cope with that well."

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