England labelled ‘boring’ under Gareth Southgate but told they can still go on to triumph at Euro 2024 by World Cup winner

Former Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona star Petit has now branded the team’s game as ‘boring’ while heavily criticising manager Gareth Southgate’s tactics. The 53-year-old, however, remained hopeful that England would improve their game in the latter stages of the tournament.

Speaking to Bet365, “Boring. It’s similar to the French national team. There’s been a lot of criticism. But we have to remember that the group stage games are very different to the knockout games, you don’t approach those games in the same way. England didn’t play well, but they finished first. So it shows that they were still better than the other teams in their group so England still have reasons to be positive after the group stage. Having said that England have to improve because it’s another competition that starts now because you have to play only one game and you’re out or you’re in.

“So the approach of the players will be different mentally and physically, I think. I think it’s the same here in France. We have probably the same questions and we don’t get the same answers. I think Gareth Southgate is responsible for the tactics and the team sheet. The players are responsible for what they can bring all together as a team, as a unit, not individually. At the moment it’s the same way as the France national team. It’s more based on the individual than the spirit of the team but that could change. The next game will be completely different for both England and France.”

After narrowly edging out Slovakia in the round of 16, Southgate’s side will now take on Switzerland in the quarter-final on Saturday.