- England had had success with a three-man defence, but against Spain they reverted to four.
- They finished second best after losing 2-1 in the tournament final.
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I feel sorry for England because you can see the effort they put in, but Gareth Southgate’s change of formation gave Spain too much respect and diminished our ability to hurt them.
Southgate dropped the full-backs, who had given our best performances in the tournament against Switzerland and Holland, because Spain were the best team in the tournament and he believed that was the best way to go about it. But that slowed down the momentum our boys had built up since the semi-final.
Going back to 4-2-3-1 was a sign that we cared more about Spain than causing them problems.
Playing with four defenders didn’t hurt us defensively, we were still solid, but it prevented us from creating. We were too rigid and predictable.
Kobbie Mainoo had less freedom to move around and find space. Jude Bellingham had to play mainly on the left, something he doesn’t particularly like.
Gareth Southgate gave Spain too much respect by changing his formation in the Euro 2024 final on Sunday
It seemed that England was more concerned with controlling Spain than generating its own threat.
The change did not harm us defensively but it limited us in attack and prevented us from creating with the ball.
What I liked most was the interplay between Mainoo, Phil Foden and Bellingham against the Dutch. We had much less of that in the final, even though Spain were the superior team.
Allowing Spain to take the initiative backfired, even though Rodri was forced off at half-time. The team continued to control the game.
When Dani Olmo missed a chance to make it 1-0 and Jordan Pickford saved a shot from Lamine Yamal, we were hanging on.
Credit must go to Southgate and the players, who once again showed tremendous determination and the manager’s substitutions were spot on.
Cole Palmer deserved his moment with the equaliser and even at 2-1, the team was fully committed and could have equalised with that crazy final burst.
Johns Stones (left) and Marc Guehi (right) were outstanding for England in Germany
Both John Stones and Marc Guehi were exceptional. It’s ironic that the concerns before the Euros were defensive. It turns out that was the part of our team that worked best.
England tried very hard. They came very close. It’s easy to look back: maybe if we’d kept the full-backs, they would have beaten us anyway. But I think we got it wrong at the start and it cost us dearly.
