Ipswich Town: Should Leif Davis have played for England at Euro 2024?

Although the Three Lions were able to top Group C – setting up a round-of-16 clash against Slovakia this evening (5pm) – they struggled against Serbia and were held to draws by Denmark and Slovenia.

Manager Gareth Southgate has primarily been criticised for his tactics, but his squad selection hasn't gone down overly well either.

Luke Shaw, the only out-and-out left-back in the squad, hasn’t played a single minute since February, having only just returned to training with the rest of his international team-mates.

It’s clear that England should have called up another left-back, and after his sensational form in the Championship last season, many Ipswich Town supporters believe that it should have been Leif Davis.

Just how legitimate is that argument? Alex Jones shares his thoughts.

Luke Shaw hasn't played a single minute of competitive football since February (Image: PA)

Without Shaw in the team, England have used natural right-back Kieran Trippier on the left. The alternatives are Joe Gomez and Ezri Konsa, both of whom are centre-backs by trade.

All three players will tend to stay back and drift into the middle of the park, creating quite a narrow and congested system. Like Kyle Walker on the right, the full-backs should be used to add width. Perhaps that’s even more important on the left, where Phil Foden started all three games in the group stages.

The Manchester City attacker has been criticised for his performances at Euro 2024 so far, with many fans calling for him to be dropped or played in a central position. There’s no denying that, like the full-back behind him, he likes to come in narrow. He enjoys playing in little pockets of space with the ball at his feet, creating opportunities to score or assist.

If Southgate sees the left flank as his best position and prefers him to someone like Anthony Gordon, he needs a full-back behind him that’ll overlap and stretch the opposition.

There are few players better at doing that than Davis, who stays wide to the line and plays high up the pitch, often overlapping Nathan Broadhead as the Welshman comes in narrow. If you look at an Ipswich touch map from last season, you’ll see that the left-back plays on a similar line to many of the attackers.

As England tend to dominate possession, there would be plenty of chances for him to get in the final third. From there, his crosses are usually very accurate, which would surely help someone like Harry Kane. Take Walker’s assist for the Bayern Munich striker against Denmark, which came as the right-back pushed high to force a mistake.

Right-back Kyle Walker set up Harry Kane to score the opening goal against Denmark (Image: PA)

Davis is also good when it comes to cutbacks, picking out players on the edge of the area rather than those at point-blank range.

Given how Foden tends to drift centrally, and that Jude Bellingham almost plays as a false nine for Real Madrid, you’d imagine that it would create quite a few chances, which is something that the Three Lions have struggled with so far. Davis’ 18 assists last season certainly shows that.

Of course, a fair few of them came from set piece situations, but England could do with a left-footer who can whip dangerous deliveries into the box. Trippier is their biggest threat from that position, but he’s right-footed. Their threat from corners and free-kicks has been minimal in the last three games.

There are tactical issues, however. When Davis pushes up, he leaves a gap behind him that would be exploited by top-level wingers, which is certainly something he’ll have to adapt to in the Premier League next season. Sure, his stamina is incredible, helping him to cover every blade of grass, but this isn’t the Championship, we’re talking about a major international tournament.

That isn’t to say he won’t be able to handle it in his future career, but he was playing League One football as recently as last year. A few months in the Premier League would probably be enough to get him ready and show his doubters that he’s got what it takes.

Whether that would happen under Southgate is another matter. The 53-year-old has a defensive approach, which infuriates a lot of supporters. A running theme that we’ve seen so far at Euro 2024 is that England will take the lead and sit back. That wouldn’t suit Davis at all, as he’d be ask to spend most of the game defending with little time to push up into the final third.

Gareth Southgate has been criticised for his tactics in the group stage (Image: PA)

Ben Chilwell was left out of the squad, as was Chelsea team-mate Levi Colwill and Crystal Palace's Tyrick Mitchell, all of whom have more experience of facing top-level players and perhaps suit Southgate’s style just that little bit better.

Davis’ time will come, but he needs to show that he can do it in the Premier League with Ipswich first. All the other tactical questions can follow after that.

While it’s fun to imagine how he would’ve handled making his England debut at Euro 2024, it was probably the right decision to leave him out this time.

As a result, Town will have a fit and firing left-back ahead of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign.