Wes Brown has been singing Jude Bellingham’s praises, comparing his fiery passion for football to that of his former Manchester United pal Cristiano Ronaldo.
The young Real Madrid ace has been on the receiving end of criticism over the last few days for his supposed arrogance in the wake of England’s narrow in over Slovakia. German pundit and ex-player Christoph Kramer reckons Bellingham “has to be careful overall that he doesn’t start getting too cocky at such a young age”.
Bellingham’s heroics kept England’s Euro 2024 dreams alive with a stunning last-gasp goal against Slovakia. The Three Lions looked off the pace once again in the first half of their knockout clash at the Veltins-Arena, trailing after Ivan Schranz gave Slovakia the lead on 25 minutes.
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England looked to be heading out as they struggled to break down Slovakia’s rearguard. But Bellingham’s 95th-minute bicycle kick drew Gareth Southgate’s side level to force extra time.
Harry Kane then gave England the lead immediately after the restart, reports the Mirror. Kane and co. managed to hold on and book their place in the quarter-finals against Switzerland on Saturday night.
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After slotting home the equaliser, Bellingham couldn’t resist a cheeky jibe at the boo-boys, throwing his hands up and shouting “Who else?” Ex-England ace Brown reckons Bellingham’s fiery spirit might get mistaken for cockiness, just like old pal Ronaldo.
Chatting on Reach’s new Euro Thrash podcast – which you can catch on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Music – Brown said: “I don’t think it is arrogance, I just think it is confidence.
“Cristiano Ronaldo had the same thing. He would get a lot of stick early on and he would come in the next day and be like ‘ok, I will prove them wrong’. He knew he was going to make mistakes but ultimately would focus on what he’s doing regardless of a missed chance, missed tackle.
“He would say, ‘This is football and I am just going to get better and better’. Jude shows that. He also shows his frustration at times because he knows he is capable of doing something like that. He’s not been in every game, he’s not been in every moment and for me, but without Jude’s goal, we’re out.”
(Image: PA)
With England’s less-than-stellar showing, Brown confessed he’s crossing his fingers for Southgate to give the lads a proper telling-off before they march into their quarter-final clash, especially after Slovakia gave them a big scare. He explained: “Sometimes it is not your day.
“I don’t think that was the case for any individuals, it wasn’t any calamities or big, big errors – although there nearly were – but ultimately everyone played the game safe-ish. As a defender, I didn’t think we were in too much trouble, the only problems were our own mistakes and nothing that we shouldn’t be able to sort out. But you still hope the manager gives them a bit of a rollicking, just to sort their heads out and to make sure the concentration levels go up.”
Southgate made a few tweaks for the round of 16 matches over the weekend, most notably handing an opportunity to Manchester United’s young talent Kobbie Mainoo, who replaced makeshift midfielder Trent Alexander-Arnold. Brown reckons that 19-year-old Mainoo could be England’s secret weapon.
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He added: “He has come in and he’s done what he does at United. He is very calm, wants the ball anywhere, not afraid to play it forward and get involved and run forward into areas. If you are a United fan, you wanted him in there from the beginning but I think Gareth has seen that performance and gone ‘I’ve got a player’.
“He’s very comfortable and he’s very different to Gallagher in that sense. I think he settled England, he’s got a nice rhythm with Rice in there and it’s working better with Kobbie rather than Gallagher.” While Conor Gallagher has shown promise when brought on as a substitute during the tournament, his starting performance against Slovenia in the final Group C match was underwhelming.
Ahead of their quarter-final clash with Switzerland – who knocked out reigning champions Italy with a 2-0 victory – Brown insists that fans must rally behind the team, regardless of the outcome. The former centre-half believes that early departures from the crowd during the round of 16 would have affected the players and emphasises the need for fans to support Southgate and his first XI.
Brown said: “As a player, when you get close to the end of the game, especially when you are losing, you do look around a bit because you hear the atmosphere drop; not boos necessarily but a bit of ‘come on, get it sorted, get excited’ and you look around and people do lose. We [referring to when he played for Man Utd] have come back too many times to remember when we score in the last five minutes of a game, that as a fan, I’d be thinking, ‘Where are you going?’.
“You know what we can do, we’ve got the capabilities for it. Normally, it’s for fans to get home, they don’t want to get stuck in the traffic, but when we played like we played up to that point, I get why fans do get the hump a bit, moan and leave.”
Watch and listen to Euro Thrash on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify with regular new episodes throughout Euro 2024