‘You could tell he wasn’t happy at all’
Alan Shearer highlights one England star that ‘wasn’t happy at all’ with manager Gareth Southgate as England lost their second consecutive Euros final.
The Three Lions lost 2-1 to Spain. Nico Williams put the Spanish in front seconds after half time. Substitute Cole Palmer equalised three minutes after coming on with a long range strike from outside the box but Mikel Oyarzabal restored Spain’s lead late on.
Jude Bellingham, who made a lovely turn but dragged his shot wide when England was 1-0 down, was visibly annoyed at the full-time whistle as he was seen kicking over a cool box.
Alan Shearer has put this outburst down to Bellingham being frustrated by Southgate’s tactics.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Shearer said: “Bellingham wasn’t happy. He was stuck on the left again. You could tell he wasn’t happy at all.
“He had a disappointed look about him, his arms were up, he was looking towards the bench for guidance,” he continued.
“He could see things weren’t going well and he wasn’t happy with the lack of press and everything else.
“He was showing all those emotions. I could see it; I was looking at him all the time. He was showing it to the bench. He’s not a left midfielder is he so I sort of understood his emotions. I was really surprised Gareth Southgate went back to four at the back.”
Shearer went on to say that the better team won in Berlin and was surprised by the way Southgate set up his team heading into the clash with Spain.
“Our best 45 minutes of football in the whole tournament was when we played three at the back in the first half against the Netherlands.
“I thought he would go for that system again. It’s clear that [Phil] Foden and Bellingham don’t want to play on the left in that system.”
Gary Lineker also commented that several players looked frustrated with Southgate throughout the tournament, not just against Spain.
He said: “When we walked off the pitch today we bumped into quite a few of the England players and they were all absolutely understanding [of the criticism they have received]. You could tell they weren’t happy with perhaps the way things went.
“The only times we saw England play attacking, aggressive football is when they’ve been behind, with the exception perhaps of two first-halves. But mostly they were sitting back and even at 1-1 tonight they started sitting again.”
Meanwhile, there has been a lot of speculation about Southgate’s future. The FA would like him to stay but the 53-year-old has a big decision to make in the coming days. He remains England’s most successful manager of recent times having taken the team to back-to-back finals but many fans and pundits question whether Southgate can take this group of players any further.
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