Micah Richards mocks Alan Shearer for wanting England star benched at World Cup

Micah Richards has ridiculed Alan Shearer for suggesting Jude Bellingham should be left out of England’s starting XI prior to the World Cup.

Debate raged over England’s ideal No.10 in the build-up to this summer’s tournament, with Morgan Rogers, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Bellingham all seemingly vying for the shirt.

But Foden and Palmer were left out of Thomas Tuchel’s squad altogether and Bellingham has without question nailed down his place as one of the first names on the team sheet with a series of magnificent displays, including three man-of-the-match showings.

In an all-time classic last-16 clash at the iconic Azteca, the 23-year-old Real Madrid superstar struck twice in the space to two minutes to put the Three Lions firmly in the ascendancy against Mexico, this year’s co-hosts.

And while England were forced to dig deep following Jarell Quansah’s sending off, Tuchel’s men produced one of the great away performances to emerge from Mexico City with a famous 3-2 victory, with Harry Kane’s second-half penalty proving decisive.

Kane and Co will resume their campaign on Saturday at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium versus Norway, who saw off Brazil to book their spot in the quarter-finals for a first time in the country’s history.

‘Now we’re cooking!’ ex-England defender Richards said of the unforgettable display on The Rest Is Football.

‘Honestly, England were outstanding. In that first half, all the things we talked about on the podcast from the start, in terms of being dynamic, in terms of having that cohesion, in terms of being aggressive and really believing in themselves.

‘I thought they showed everything from start to finish.

‘Obviously in the second half it was more about that togetherness, commitment and tactical nous from Thomas Tuchel, who we’ve mentioned many times in terms of in-game substitutions.’

Richards believes Quansah was ‘a little bit unfortunate’ to be given his marching orders for a foul on Jesus Gallardo, but was ‘absolutely delighted’ with how the rest of the team responded to the setback to advance through.

‘I just thought everything in the game was perfect, although, obviously, Jarell Quansah got sent off,’ he continued.

‘I thought he was a little bit unfortunate, he got the ball but then it was the follow-through so I understand why he had to get a red card.

‘All in all, I’m just absolutely delighted for them because it feels as if we’ve been waiting for that moment and we knew they had it in them.

‘We’ve seen them play well under Gareth Southgate at times and get to finals, but that was a Tuchel-like performance which we expected to see maybe a bit earlier, but it came at the right time.’

Richards then turned this attentions’ to Bellingham’s heroics, taking the opportunity to poke fun at Shearer for his comments in the lead-up to this year’s World Cup.

Speaking to Daily Mail Sport just last month, the ex-England and Newcastle striker stated: Jude Bellingham doesn’t start the first game for me.

‘I think Thomas will go with what has done well for him in England games: Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice, and then Morgan Rogers ahead of them. I would expect him to go with those three. That’s what I would do.’

In response to Shearer’s remarks, Richards said: ‘Alan didn’t want to start Jude in the tournament! Now look at him! Who else? Who else?!’

‘He’s constantly in the WhatsApp group talking about, “Well I called this team, I called that team!”, but he wasn’t starting Jude!

‘I look at him now… eh? Who else?!’

Richards also made sure to single out Anthony Gordon for special praise, with Barcelona’s summer signing bouncing back from a slow start to the tournament to play a central role in the Mexican capital.

The former Manchester City and Aston Villa defender said of Gordon: ‘He was brilliant and I feel as though he needed that performance because there’s been a lot of talk about him and Marcus Rashford, who should start and who should come on.

‘That pressure of joining Barcelona comes with all this expectation and it sometimes can be difficult to deal with that when you’re playing for a team and not getting as many headlines.

‘All the headlines coming into the tournament was about who is going to start – Rashford or Gordon? – and up until this moment he’s not really produced his best stuff.

‘But tonight he was brilliant! The way he wanted to take people on, they way he wanted to press, the way he got the penalty… everything about his game was dynamic.’

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