Jude Bellingham sends bold message to Gareth Southgate concerning West Ham star

Jude Bellingham’s gestures at full-time spoke volumes, as West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen outperformed Gareth Southgate’s favourites.

There is no love lost between West Ham fans and England manager Gareth Southgate.

It’s understandable, and in many ways justified.

Since taking over as Three Lions manager, Southgate has frequently overlooked West Ham’s outstanding performers.

A classic example is James Ward-Prowse, who was a fixture in the Three Lions squad before joining West Ham.

That was despite playing in Europe and having a great start in east London last season.

Southgate irksome for West Ham fans

Southgate infuriated Hammers fans by repeatedly disregarding top player Jarrod Bowen in recent seasons.

And when he did make the squad, Southgate originally decided not to give him a fair chance.

Southgate also enraged West Ham fans when he claimed Declan Rice had improved his game since leaving the club earlier this year.

In fairness to Southgate, he did select Bowen for his Euros squad. Rightly so, given his excellent form for West Ham last season.

Many Hammers fans believe Bowen should push Bukayo Saka for a starting spot.

However, when Southgate did not even utilize Bowen in England’s final Euros warm-up game against Iceland, West Ham fans were concerned that the story might repeat again.

And so it proved, as Southgate’s favourite Saka got the tournament began on the right foot when the Three Lions faced Serbia on Sunday night.

But Jude Bellingham says it all: West Ham’s Bowen outshines Southgate’s choices.

Bellingham says it all as Bowen outshines Southgate’s favourites

In fairness to Saka, the Arsenal player had a terrific first half, and his deflected cross set up Real Madrid superstar Bellingham for the game’s sole goal.

Saka and England were quite bad in a usually dull match after England took the lead.

It’s an all-too-common theme under Southgate, and West Ham fans are familiar with it from David Moyes’ tenure.

When Conor Gallagher came on in the 69th minute, it seemed like a Moyes and Kalvin Phillips call from Newcastle.

Fortunately, Southgate saw sense and brought on West Ham’s leading scorer a few minutes later.

Within one minute, Bowen outperformed Phil Foden and all of Southgate’s other favourites combined.

He surged at his marker down the right and lifted a superb ball into Harry Kane, laying it on a plate for the former Tottenham Hotspur striker.

But he squandered the opportunity, albeit thanks to a fantastic save by the Serbia goalie on the crossbar.

Bowen does West Ham proud for England

Bowen was fantastic and did not make a single mistake in his 15 minutes on the field.

The Hammers star had 15 touches, made 6 passes, generated one clear-cut chance that should have been an assist, won his only aerial duel, made one tackle, one critical clearing, and one crucial interception.

Football Data Experts Squawka wrote about West Ham’s ace:

“Jarrod Bowen created as many chances in his first minute on the pitch than any England player had in the opening 75 minutes.”

Bowen would also finish the game as the only English player to generate a significant opportunity against Serbia.

Jarrod Bowen created as many chances in his first minute on the pitch than any England player had in the opening 75 minutes (1). 🙃#EURO2024

— Play Squawka Selector for Free (@Squawka_Live) June 16, 2024

Jarrod Bowen was the only England player to create a big chance against Serbia. ⚒️#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/qvw0C9aEPg

— Play Squawka Selector for Free (@Squawka_Live) June 16, 2024

The last whistle, however, said it all.

England was under intense pressure for the majority of the second half and came dangerously close to conceding an equaliser.

It wasn’t until Bowen came on that Southgate’s team was able to relieve pressure and begin pinning the Serbs back with his positive play and great exchanges.

When the referee signaled for full-time, Bellingham went straight for West Ham’s key player.

He offered him a big hug, which said it all: “You helped us get over the line.”

As the saying goes, “game recognises game.”

Now we’ll see if Bowen gets the start he deserves against Denmark.

Bowen discusses England’s initial group game victory in the video below.

Jarrod Bowen's game by numbers vs Serbia:

14' minutes played
14 touches
6 passes
1 chance created
1 aerial duel won (100%)
1 tackle
1 clearance
1 interception

Even Jude knows how good he is 😉 pic.twitter.com/94kgg2EiWJ

— Hammers Hub (@HammersHubWHUFC) June 16, 2024