England this week produced another dour performance in their Euros group. A 0-0 draw with Slovenia has ensured England finish top of their group, but few are convinced that England will go far based on the current evidence.
They now face a tough test in the round of 16 against the Slovakia on Sunday.
Hamann is one of those individuals unconvinced that England will win the Euros.
"There's a fine line between being loyal and being stubborn. In the past, he's been, I think, too loyal to certain players," he said this week.
"If you look at Kane or Declan Rice, is he the player who's making the team better? Is he making other players better? I'm not so sure.
"As a manager, if you want to get the respect of the whole squad, you've got to get after the big boys. If you go after the small boys, people won't respect you.
"He's in a position now where the public lost faith in him, the pundits lost faith in him in England, and the team, I think, lost faith in him as well."
“They’ve got Foden and Bellingham in the same team, it clearly doesn’t work. But he hasn’t got the bottle to drop either of them.”
Didi Hamann, Shay Given and Kevin Doyle didn’t hold back on their England criticism.
— Daniel Hussey (@DanielHussey2) June 25, 2024
Southgate has also been criticised for his use of substitutions, with Conor Gallagher replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Slovenian game.
Other players, who are highly rated, have received little game time in the three games played so far.
Hamann believes that Southgate doesn't have the bottle to make the big calls when it comes to dropping big players.
"Some of the substitutions, you can't follow them; you don't know what he's thinking," he added.
"I think the biggest problem is that they've got Foden and Bellingham on the same team. It clearly doesn't work, but he doesn't have the bottle to drop either of them. I think he's got to take one of them out or move Bellingham a bit further back, but he doesn't want to do that.
"For some reason, he thinks Bellingham has to play in the position behind Kane. They've got so many players.
"If you stick to those big players and they clearly don't perform, I think there's a case to drop both of them. Unless he does it, I think it becomes a problem with the squad as well.
"It's probably too late now, but if you go after the lesser players, it doesn't look good on the manager. That's what he's done in the tournament, taking the easy target."
