Kyle walker has been slammed for his positioning in the lead up to England's concession against Slovakia.
The Manchester City defender endured a torrid first half in Gelsenkirchen, misplacing passes and seeing Slovakia's Lukas Haraslin get the better of him on several occasions. Gareth Southgate 's side came into the encounter as favourites but were stunned as Francesco Calzona's side got their noses in front after 25 minutes. There were a catalogue of errors in the lead up to the goal but Walker's position, five yards behind the defensive line, has drawn most attention and was crucial in Slovakia's ability to net.
The forward benefitted from the Three Lions' poor defensive line. One England fan wrote on X: 'Kyle Walker what were you doing…'. To be fair to the year-old, he was not the only player slammed for their involvement in the strike.
Fingers were also pointed at the central defensive pairing of John Stones and Guehi. To compound England's issues, the Crystal Palace defender received a yellow card in the opening minutes that will see him suspended from a potential quart-final.
Fans in the ground in Germany were similarly unimpressed from the first-half showing, with boos ringing out shortly before the half-hour-mark and against when the referee blew his whistle for the interval. Story by Tum Balogun. Southgate's side were looking to set up a quarter-final clash against Switzerland Slovakia's Schranz gave his side the lead after only 25 minutes in Gelsenkirchen.
