Gareth Southgate’s triple substitution was his boldest move, but now he faces an even bigger question

It was the first time Gareth Southgate he was EnglandThe unlikely axeman of , selecting three attacking talents for about three weeks. If only Marcus Rashford, James Maddison and Jack Grealish discovered on different days that they hadn’t made the cut for Euro 2024, a trio at the front of the pecking order saw their numbers rise together. Unlike Rashford and Grealish, they were not warned.

Exit Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden when England needed a goal. The men eliminated were England’s top scorer, the reigning player of the year and England’s new Footballer of the Year. It may have been the most dramatic triple substitution of the Southgate years. The surprise in the draw with Denmark was not just how bad England were, but who finished the game in attack: Jarrod Bowen, Ollie Watkins and Eberechi Eze could have formed a useful but unexceptional mid-table attacking line of the Premier League, at least until each had a breakthrough season.

Now they were sent to get a breakthrough, to salvage a victory, to ensure England topped the group. Nobody could.

A seismic replacement or one that will quickly become irrelevant? Southgate presented this as a consequence of his superstars’ fatigue rather than firing a warning shot at them. There was nothing in his comments to suggest a changing of the guard, but Southgate can act stealthily and some of the evidence will come with the team’s record against Slovenia.

But Kane, in particular, appears to enjoy a protected status; he was rarely substituted when England needed to score. He may have the appearance of a tired man, even when he is not. This time, however, Southgate said yes. “We felt like the whole front line worked really hard on the game the other day,” he said. “He’s only had 90 minutes in the last five or six weeks and it’s taken a lot out of him. We felt it was important to get speed on that front line and energy to press.”

Meanwhile, Foden covered 13.2km in the Serbia game, even in the midst of a performance that was criticized. Saka ended the season injured at Arsenal. He started each group game well, but then disappeared. Kane scored the goal against Denmark, dropped deeper than against Serbia and allowed others to get past him; for those tracking his touch count, it was 22. More pertinently, he was nowhere near his best. As Foden played better than against Serbia, Jude Bellingham played worse. Arguably, individually none of the top four are in full form or fitness. Collectively, the quest for chemistry continues.

There is a logic to saving your legs. As man of the match Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg observed, Southgate has enviable attacking options; are reasons why Grealish, Rashford and Maddison are not spending the summer in Germany. The most instructive element is whether Southgate’s motivation was simply a search for novelty when a decision-maker could have determined the group and facilitated widespread change against Slovenia. Beat Denmark and Kane and others could have had an off day.

But on a day when England had little inspiration, was he desperate? He seemed as surprised as anyone at the poverty of his team. Maybe he looked to the bank for a magic solution, a savior to rescue a poor performance. Maybe he thought the unthinkable.

“It’s up to me to find better solutions,” he said. “We cannot make excuses for the level of performance. We know that the level has to be higher. The team didn’t work today and that’s my responsibility.”

He has shown that he will not shy away from the responsibility of making decisions. Perhaps this was a dress rehearsal for a game of life and death. Or perhaps simply an attempt to keep fringe players involved, but when the stakes are highest he will stick with his four favourites, whether they are in good form or struggling to stay in form.

Because England’s most infamous substitutions came with everything on the line: Sir Alf Ramsey’s decision to drop Bobby Charlton at the 1970 World Cup, Ron Greenwood’s decision to bring in Kevin Keegan and an in-form Trevor Brooking 12 years later, Graham Taylor removing Gary Lineker in his international final and bringing in Alan Smith, or even Southgate using Rashford as a penalty-taking specialist in the Euro 2020 final.

This was a case where Southgate’s best-laid plans backfired. Now, with Harry Maguire injured, Luke Shaw still not fit, Southgate mourning the loss of Kalvin Phillips and Jordan Henderson, they seem to be changing at a worrying rate. But if the younger wingers he promoted to the squad were signs that he could sometimes take Foden and Saka out, the sight of Kane moving away has raised the question of whether England’s struggles will make Southgate abandon a key tenet of his plan: never be without your captain.