How Spain's wing wonders baffled England and Bellingham with half-time tweak

As much as I wanted England to win these Euros, and as excruciating as it was to see us lose on Sunday evening, in a way it was good for football that Spain were crowned champions. Luis de la Fuente’s side were totally in sync.

Symmetrical. Smooth. Everything England weren’t, really. For the Spaniards, it seemed effortless in how they progressed play from back to front. For us, it looked like a chore, and we spent most of our time in Germany banking on a big moment arriving to make up for our lack of balance.

Yet I’m not here to crucify Gareth Southgate for his tactics or selections because this final wasn’t so much lost by England but won by Spain, a side superior to us in so many ways. That included their wings.

The Spanish were a threat on both of their sides, with Marc Cucurella supporting Nico Williams on the left and Dani Carvajal behind Lamine Yamal on the right. Kyle Walker and Luke Shaw did well to shackle their wide men in the first half of Sunday’s final, going some way to justifying Southgate’s switch to a back four as England went man-for-man.

But for the second half, Williams and Yamal started operating on the inside of the full backs as Cucurella and Carvajal gave the team its width. Spain’s opening goal was an excellent example of that.

Without the ball, England were forming a 4-4-2 defensive shape to try to stop the Spanish from playing through us, with Bellingham the designated winger over on the left.

Yet the move for Spain’s opener started with Bellingham failing to follow Carvajal after he flew down the flank. That left Shaw unsure whether to close down Carvajal or staying tight with Yamal.

In the end, he did neither, as an exquisite outside-of-the-foot pass from Carvajal found Yamal, who saw exactly how the scene was unfolding. There was a run from Dani Olmo to drag Kyle Walker away, and another from Alvaro Morata to get rid of John Stones.

That left Williams all on his own and in space to score after receiving Yamal’s pass, the two wide men combining after coming inside.

It was a terrific team goal, and one we sadly never really expected of England at these Euros as our lopsided left-hand side threw off the team's balance at this tournament.

Three Lions' lack of threat

I’m not the biggest fan of the ‘expected goals’ metric, but there was one statistic which told a story on Sunday. England ended Euro 2024 with less xG than Croatia, even though they exited at the group stage and we went all the way to the final. In time, Southgate may look back with the odd regret, including his loyalty to starting Harry Kane.

I was surprised that Southgate practically admitted Kane was not fit enough to do what he usually does for England. If that was the case, Ollie Watkins should have been better utilised in this final as he would have provided much more of a threat in behind.

Anthony Gordon could also have been useful, certainly more so than he was sitting on the substitutes’ bench. The average time of England's first substitution at Euro 2024 was 60 minutes. For Spain, it was 48, and you do sense Southgate could have been more proactive at times in Germany.

More boldness need

England needed to show more bravery on the ball. Rodri and Fabian Ruiz did that as they knitted the play together with their passing, with the Spanish showing they had numerous ways of getting themselves up the pitch.

Even when Rodri was replaced by Martin Zubimendi, they had a plan to make sure their midfielders dropped into pockets of space so they could receive the ball and play forward passes. But Declan Rice and Kobbie Mainoo never looked like providing that for us.

Rice played as a No 6 but a quarterback passer he is not, and that is where everything should have been starting for England. Instead, there was an over-reliance on long balls. Jordan Pickford was kicking long over and over in Sunday’s final.

Yes, those hopeful punts allowed us to avoid the Spanish high press, but it was largely because nobody was showing for Pickford as an option.

What Kane was supposed to do with that ball when it was falling out of the sky, I’m not sure, because he hardly had any runners around him to pick up the scraps.

Even after Cole Palmer’s equaliser, when you would have expected England to be in the ascendancy, there was a moment when Walker had a throw-in adjacent to Spain’s box.

He threw the ball all the way down the touchline to Stones, who passed back to Pickford, who kicked long and out for a Spanish goal-kick. It was wasteful from England and an indication that unlike Spain, we lacked a plan for how to penetrate our opponents.