- Alan Shearer has tipped one change for England ahead of the Euro final
- He shot down Gary Lineker’s warning about how Spain could hurt England
- Listen to It’s all just beginning! DAILY EUROS: What moment did the Euros change for England?
Alan Shearer has named his England squad for the Euro 2024 finals in a shock change.
England are preparing for a second successive Euro final and will hope to have better luck against Spain than they had against Italy in 2021.
However, Gary Lineker has pointed out one area where Spain could really hurt England, depending on how Gareth Southgate approaches the game.
The Three Lions have looked better since switching to three central defenders in the quarter-final against Switzerland, two of them also using full-backs.
Shearer said The rest is football podcast in which he says he thinks Southgate will “probably come in with the same formation” and then revealed the change he thinks the England manager will make.
Alan Shearer (pictured) believes Gareth Southgate will make one change for England’s Euro 2024 final clash with Spain
Gary Lineker (pictured) is concerned that Spanish wide players could exploit a system with tall full-backs
England have looked better since Southgate (pictured) opted to use three central defenders.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he puts Luke Shaw in from the start and then keeps everything else the same,” Shearer said.
It would be a difficult decision to replace Kieran Trippier with Shaw from the start, considering the Manchester United left-back has not started since February due to injury. However, he has played well against Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Lineker warned that Spain’s two wingers, Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, could cause havoc if Bukayo Saka and Shaw dropped too high.
“I suppose the most difficult thing against Spain, because Spain play with two wingers, is whether they can get the two English full-backs to be further back than normal and whether we risk playing higher and leaving them behind. It will be a bit tricky,” he said.
Shearer disagrees and believes England’s formation could smother their wingers, saying: “That’s a big strength in what they have in Yamal and Williams on either side. “Yamal loves to come in on his left foot, that’s what we want to do, there aren’t many occasions where he drifts out wide on the right.
“So if that’s going to happen, and you’re going to play with three at the back, which I think you could do, you should get into traffic, which hopefully could benefit England.”
Southgate’s men will have their work cut out for them against Euro 2024’s standout side.
Shaw has not started a match since February due to injury, but has featured twice at Euro 2024
Lamine Yamal (left) and Nico Williams (right) have been two of Spain’s brightest stars at the Euros
Spain have won all six of their matches under Luis de la Fuente, becoming the first team to win as many games at a European Championship.
England’s task will be to overcome the demons of the Euro 2020 final, where they took the lead against Italy but ultimately lost on penalties.
They achieved that in part with a penalty shoot-out win over Switzerland in the quarter-finals and looked an improved team last time out against the Netherlands.
“We’re giving people some incredible nights out. We’ve given our fans some of the best nights out in the last 50 years. I’m very proud of that,” Southgate said.
“I’m glad everyone at home feels the same way we did and the people in the stadium felt. But we’re not done yet.
“We have to prepare for the most important test possible. We came here to try to win the tournament and that remains our goal.”
