All this tactical analysis just boils down to the fact that Southgate ain't a good manager by a mile. Came to that conclusion when Adam spoke bout kane's issues. For a manager not to be able to pick out a player's strengths and weaknesses is hugely underwhelming
Ah, good sir, thou hast no need to thank us for our presence. Tis but the best that we seek, which is why we are watchful. Spare us thy empty words, for the only reason we behold is because of the excellence thou dost provide. If thou dost keep providing content of high quality, then we shall remain steadfast in our gaze. Yet, do not mistake our watching for favor twards thee. We seeketh only the finest, not thy empty flattery
@@ivanarthuraryee781 Why, these TH-camrs, verily they are bold! To thank we for our viewing of their creations is quite the insult, as if we lacked taste or discernment. Their arrogance is astounding, and the very thought of thanking us for our attention is a laughable notion. Let us cease this vain display of acknowledgment and let them recognize our superiority!
Playing the wrong players in the wrong positions has undone England AGAIN. System is king, some players have to be sacrificed for that. Team game Spain proved that.
It's kinda dumb. Like how many managers would kill to be able to make a substitution like, take off Bellingham and bring on Foden. Having that kind of depth in those positions is incredible, and allows you to tweak your system according to the opponent as well without having to completely disrupt it. Rotating Palmer, Saka and Gordon around, choosing between Kane, Watkins or Toney according to the situation. Southgate managed this team like it was a game of Fifa and just stacking the team with players with the highest stats.
@@LORDUnLuCkY13 Meh. Havertz, Musiala, Wirtrz and at times Gundugan all played the same area. Good tactical instructions and having both fullbacks go up made it work. Southgate did neither.
The fact that Yamal only needed 1 moment after getting past Shaw to create an opportunity that leads to a goal, shows how insane that, as a 17 year old, is to have that maturity and impact
@@josephstalin5003 Youngest euros scorer at 16 years of age and done it when he's team was behind and is Barcelona's best player, not only is he a generation talent, he's set on course to be the best ever
@@josephstalin5003 he has 5 g and 5 assists in his first 16 matches of his career with spain. he has only 10 starts. he just turned 17 last week. we have never seen this before.
Very good analysis! thanks a lot for that. As Spaniard, I was afraid that England would keep pushing after they equilized and I was very surprised seeing them drowing back just 1 minute after. Insane how much space they gave up, double 6s just next to the center backs.... GRACIAS for your congratulations! respect for England.
Wow that first Spain goal was explained so well, the quality of Spanish players on the ball and their confident and smooth playstyle got them the opening goal
@@mattttt5 Kane got exposed big time this tournament, he looked well past it. He’ll obviously always have that strikers instinct and incredible finishing, but he looked so lazy all tournament.
That first goal is all about first-time touch. Carvajal flicking that ball around Shaw just puts the cat amongst the pigeons as it totally caught Shaw out.
@@kdburner7356 Hes injured, he hadnt recovered from his back injury. If thats the case though you really have to question the player and manager. Players playing injured only hinders the team.
Spain is an example of what happens when everyone plays in their proper positions, each position has the right player profile, players know what to do, and well coached, and most importantly every single player works his socks off for the team, and England just wasn't any of that, despite having better players on paper. I thought england may win via defense but couldn't even do that
Spanish fan here. Gracias for the video, I love your analysis and I appreciate you made it 'cos when our team loses we just feel like forgetting asap and moving on
@@dondamon4669it’s the amount of time and energy spent that’s being referred here than the actual difficulty of the analysis. Watching and rewatching the match, noting points, making the outline for the script, gathering clips, gathering stats, filming the video then editing, etc etc. Quality video and in such a short time. Give credit where it’s due.
Adam, I love watching FourFourTwo. I’m an American and when I finally discovered football I was thirsty to understand it in the same technical manner I did with American Football. This channel has taught me so much, and is a must watch when new videos drop. Thank you!
Some people are criticising poor individual performances from the likes of Rice and Walker to excuse Southgate... WHEN THAT'S ALSO ON HIM ffs. Look at the total minutes played for all outfield players at the Euros - the fact that Stones, Walker and Rice were even allowed to play EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of England's entire Euros campaign is an absolute disgrace. That's 7 games, 2 of which went to extra-time.. that's 690mins which averages to 98mins per game! Saka, Foden, Bellingham and Kane were also the only outfield players to play over 600mins this tournament. Guehi clocked up 570mins and he was banned for 1 game. By comparison, not ONE single outfield Spanish player played as many minutes this tournament as Guehi did - Cucurella is closest at 546mins. Purely for the sake of this team's health alone, Southgate should be sacked.
Completely agree with this assessment! Maybe this answers the question of how do Bellingham and Foden play in the same team? As subs for one another - start the hot hand and bring on the other after 60ish minutes. The lack of rotation in this England team was telling! With top players racking up 60+ games for their clubs it's simply irresponsible to have them playing 7 near 100 minute games over the space of a month for England. Of course the players are always going to want to play it's up to the manager to be ruthless and protect them from themselves for the good of the team. Why did Southgate even bother to take Gordon, or Wharton, and even Watkins & Toney! The fact Shaw played more minutes than all of these players combined when he'd not played for 5 months is utterly ridiculous (Nearly as ridiculous as not taking another recognized LB but I digress) This England team was crying out for changes to meet both tactical and fitness needs - This falls at Southgate's feet and for me makes it clear that while he's done an excellent job turning England into contenders he's not the man to take the England team to the next level of actually winning a tournament.
I think it is a little different to make a split second decision on the pitch of a live game than later analysing and having all the time of the world to do it.
Gordon really should have played to free up Kane in the centre with runs down the left. How Southgate couldn't see this was one of the main frustrations of the tournament.
@@novianovioTVIt's more about putting the right players into the system and not trying to cram every superstar name in. Foden should never have played on the left in the 4-2-3-1, though he suited the right-sided CAM role in the 3-4-2-1. Kane shouldn't be starting if he is physically unable to make the runs required in a pressing or even counterattacking system, and if he has to play he should be paired with a proper LW like Gordon or a second striker like Watkins. Trent should've played RB instead of Walker against opponents we knew would set up in a low block. The list goes on.
@@novianovioTVthat's not what I heard. What I heard was someone like Gordon could have helped the team function better, which I think many would agree with.
@@novianovioTV Well no, that's my point. Kane might have been the Messiah, but the system didn't allow for it with no LW and Saka 9/10 cutting inside being left footed on the right. Kane was on the pitch the whole time.
Thanks from Spain. You've been quite honest and I can tell how hard has been for you to make this video. I wanted to know English people point of view and you gave to me. Thanks again for your video, your dedication and for explaining everything so clear. Big hug.
Spain were exceptional and well deserved winners. They were set up very well, every player knew their role and the system of play. Add to that supreme technical skill and tournament IQ that spanish players play from the age of 6, this culture is built to be competitive, and use their strengths to win with 15 goals and 7 wins… incredible. This is in stark contrast to England who struggled with all of the aforementioned. Having coached in England for 10 years snd Barcelona i can tell you, this culture of competitive sport is something they grow up with. This is what breads confidence and a winning mentality
Spain have always been Europe's best technicians. Our youth development has improved massively over the last couple of decades. Beating the Spanish U-21's proves this. England are not far off. But I will agree that the football culture, the youth coaching, in Spain, surpasses the general English approach. Despite the progressive knowledge of the English elite set up, it still seems not to permeate through as much as in other countries.
By the way Scotland 2 Spain 0 in March 2023. They are not such a brilliant team, let's be honest. This isn't the Spain with Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta and Villa. They were beatable.
@@martinladley may i also add, In my opinion Coaching “tactical and technical knowledge” is higher too. Lots of my Spanish Coaching friends were baffled at how England set up and were deighted to see Kane & Foden play, but shocked Bellibgham wasnt in the middle of Midfield. Many also asked me after the semi final what Englands style of play was? They seemed as confussed as me 🤨
It was Spains 11 vs Englands 10 in truth. Harry Kant looked and played like he was asked to dance at his old school reunion. Nobody had the guts to dig him out. Every time the ball was played high and long to him, he never once won the ball in the air. He then started to drop deep to receive which meant the ball kept coming back
Bloody hell, that match was a farce! Spain against England, more like Spain against Harry Kane! The bloke looked like he was forced to dance at his old school reunion, just as feeble and timid as ever. Why on earth didn't anybody pull him out of there? Every time a high ball was played towards him, he was lost in the air, never won once. Then, to top it off, he started dropping back as if he was playing for bloody Barcelona! Pass after pass came back, like a bloody merry-go-round! Disgusting display, that was!
Yep, compared to previous tournaments he was really poor at taking the ball with back to goal, winning headers against a defender, or running past a defender. That's pretty much all his link up play gone. I'm assuming he wasn't fully fit, probably shouldn't have started, and if he did start the plan could never be for Pickford to kick long balls to Kane.
@@davegold Ah, mate, you're having a laugh! Poor at taking the ball with my back to goal? VWinning headers? Running past defenders? All gone, is it? was playing my heart out out there! And you're assuming I wasn't fully fit? Probably shouldn't have started? And that long-ball strategy? Let me tell you something, it's not my fault if the plan wasn't working. I was busting my balls out there! So maybe think before you go mouthing off, alright?
The frustration for me is that is patently obvious that Saka/Bellingham/Foden is not a good midfield to put behind Kane or that Kane isn’t the forward to put in front of them. I can see it and TH-cam analysts can see it so why can’t Southgate?
Im sure Southgate saw it, but what else was he going to do? The players he would have picked are carrying injuries, and god forbid we start a campaign without a recognised Captain. This is the hand he was delt and he just had to make the most of it.
John Barnes made the best analysis today. Spain picked players that could play the way their coach required while England ie Southgate picked the top players without looking for players that could play together to make a winning team. Has always been this way hence 58 years with nothing
That’s in part because the media pick the team. And in part because we over rate our players. Would we have wanted to play Cucurella if he was English.
It's because statistically England are on a par with Portugal but stylistically have more in common with Belguim. People shouldn’t expect any more from them than the Belgians do from their team. The idea that England is some sort of elite footballing nation is nonsense and only has its roots in the fact that the game originated in these islands, but it was the Scottish who really adapted and refined it. The World Cup victory in 1966 was due to home advantage, a handful of their best players ever, three of whom - Peters, Moore & Hurst were developed by England’s best ever coach - Ron Greenwood, whose West Ham side didn’t play traditional English football. The success at club level in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s was greatly assisted by Scots, Welsh and Irish players. England have never produced players skilful enough (with a handful of exceptions) for the very highest international standards due to the league’s physical, results-oriented football (which is what the fans really want) and because we have still not accepted the fact that coaching is a vital part of the game.
This team isn’t slow by any stretch of the imagination…The issue with the team is Kane… he’s the best striker in the world but he doesn’t suit this team not because he is bad but he just don’t fit
@@kingcort8073and what is more annoying if he wants Kane for the love of god at least play one winger who runs, like Gordon! Common sense! Or drop Kane for Watkins who runs! Have to do one or the other, how can Southgate not see that
@cryptobullflow or play both Gordon on the left would have made a huge difference and watkins would have been far more effective than Kane. But Southgate has to fit the big names in causing the team in every match to be imbalanced with nothing on the left and zero movement upfront. Terrible tactics
First of all, I wanted to congratulate you for the video, because it is extremely well crafted and it makes you understand the final so, so much better. I watched the final with a very good friend of mine from England, and she was as disappointed as you were at the end of the video. Nevertheless, I also wanted to thank you for acknowledging Spanish team’s skills. It was a real honor to play against you lads, I really think this generation of players you have deserves better.
Great analysis. I've been saying for years that England do not have the calibre of players with high quality IQ. The start of the match. England have kick off. The ball goes back to Pickford and he launches it. The match was lost there and then, inside the 1st minute of the game. I thought I went back in time to the days of Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton. GK in League 2 don't even do this any longer.
I'm from Spain and honestly when I saw that, I immediately thought it was an intentional declaration of intentions by England. "You have the ball, Spain, we're going to low-block this".
England need to play the best player in that position, not try and get good players on the pitch and ask them to play out of position. We did this in the past and it failed every time.
I once chatted with Brian Clough who said precisely that. He said I have a team in my head and if the right player is a league or two down the football league it doesn;t matter if he's spot on right. In those days I was a midfielder and used to watch John Mc Govern who captained forest to win the then european cup. He is never mentioned as an all time great midfield player - but he was spot on in the team cloughie had in his head.
@@Hoistayeah exactly, not the best players, the right players. If we took runners for our wingers instead of players who want the ball to their feet then Kane would work better with them but everyone wants the ball to feet so a different profile of striker is needed for that scenario. Players like Gordon, and Palmer are better suited to play with Kane while Foden, Bellingham and Saka are better suited to play with Watkins. It's not a matter of fielding the best players but the right players as you said.
Loved the analysis all tournament. During the Spanish second goal I saw that gap and positioning and my heart sank as I could sense it was going to lead to something bad but credit to you guys as I think watching these videos (despite watching football all my life) has given me a new sense of the game.
As far as I can tell, this is the first channel to really point out Pickford's terrible ball distribution in the second half. Many times it hurt England and that was clearly visible in costing them build up play as well as basic ball retention.
It amazes me that his dreadful kicking wasn't called out once by BBC. Just when we were on top after our goal, walker throws it back from the Spain corner. It ends up at Pickford and he kicks it out for a Spain goal kick 😮. That killed our momentum and the BBC commentary didn't even mention it!
@@StuHolland They had been playing like that all tournament. Remember when Walker won a free kick in the opposition half and hoofed it to the only attacking player free in his own half? That sums it up for me. I remember the incident you were talking about too. I screamed at the TV!
Great work. Also you have to give massive respect to Zubimendi. Rodri, world's best player in his position gets injured halfway in the match and he goes out there to give that recital of football
@mandreshyp6683 Zubimendi only had a good game because Foden stopped marking him and instead half heartedly started marking Fabian Luis. Mainoo was invisible in the midfield so Zubimendi was almost always unchallenged when he got the ball.
@@sgsjosh2000 That's very true, when Rodri came on out, Mainoo was left without somebody to mark, Foden followed Fabian Luis who had dropped to right back as Cavahal took the left 8 position from which he gave Lamine a one touch pass to get Shaw out of position...
in the first half it was mostly Rodri that was opening wide to the flank which dragged Foden out of the middle and allowed Laporte to drive the ball unopposed to the midfield. once Spain got a sense of the man marking madness that Southgate imposed, they played around it in a very smart way.
This series has been the best thing about the Euros for me, and the only content I wanted to watch after the Final. Thank you for the charm and honesty and (obviously) all the insight - truly helped keep me sane during the media meltdowns over Denmark/ Slovenia/ Slovakia especially.
My guy, you are sheer class. Giving credit where credit is due and doing in it in such a context. From a spaniard that used to think I'll never ever see my team win fuck all, then 2008 happened. Best wishes.
@@KevCraven 😂😂😂 somehow never wanted England to reach the finals coz of their boring football, but I also never liked Spain. But England were the better devil in yesterday's finals, but they disappointed me after equalizing and refusing to play football.
Congratulations for your job in this channel. I'm spanish and I saw your video twice, a brilliant analysis of the match that I haven't seen anywhere else. I learnt a lot. I never thought such little decisions can make such a big difference. And congrats again for your professionalism being so impartial when obviously you where so involved on this emotionally. Thanks.
Thank you for your insight throughout the tournament. I am (unashamedly) one of those fans who crawls out of the woodwork every two years for the major tournaments and pays no attention to football the rest of the time. But during this period I am genuinely interested in what's going on, and a couple of former stars saying "he needs a bit more quality at the finish" is deeply unsatisfying punditry. So to stumble across someone giving proper tactical analysis such that a layman can follow has been a pleasure. I hope to find your content again in two years!
It was so painful to watch England play these Euros. With these amazing offensive players you could have made each game a shootout and challenge the opponents to score one more than you. Yeah, defense might win championships, but to waste all this talent and make all of Europe suffer with this kind of football brutalism is just a shame. Get a competent manager and England will be a force in future tournaments. Or at least fun to watch. Cheers from Germany.
You know the quality of this channel is excellent because they often describe quite subtle, intricate things, but if you take it on board and keep your eyes open, you see it happen in the game and you go 'look! That thing that guy on youtube said would happen is happening!' Worlds apart from 'this team should get it out wide more often' or 'that team aren't a team they are just a bunch of individuals playing for themselves' or any of the other tired one-liners football fans usually get served up as analysis.
Very good video. The best thing about this Spanish team is that the coach has chosen his players without listening to the press. He has chosen players with whom he knew he could play in a certain way.
As a Spaniard, I am very proud of our national team's performance, and I also feel like justice has been made, since England and France have the players to play much better and have underperformed. Yesterday for instance Foden was focused on shading Rodri (who still played well) thus losing what he does best. Spain simply played better as a team and both pressing and offense feel so natural they almost do it instinctively, they did plan an adapt to every team but they didn't stop playing to their strengths. I was hooked to the entire Euros and I loved watching your analysis, Thanks for all the great videos and take care, mate!
I think the most impressive thing about Spain in the tournament was after the Germany game you had to make some big changes to your lineup and still outplayed France. I always support Germany and Spain. That match was kinda the real final IMO.
Not just the Euros -- pretty much *the* best tactics channel period for the past year now. These have made my bus commutes very fruitful since last September. Thanks, Adam (and Adam, and team)
First time watcher, simply amazing analysis. The Spain first goal now feels better because they simply outplayed us. I wish you’d analysed the throwin just after the goal that Walker through from their box back to Pickford and how Pickford didn’t pick out Watkins clever run. But brilliant analysis 👏
Amazing analysis. I'm sure the page will only get bigger. So refreshing to not have to listen to opinions and negativity surrounding England. You summed it up perfectly, we did quite well and were beat by a better team. The future looks bright for this England squad. Thank You and Keep up the great work 👏
I'm so glad you've picked up on Jordan Puntford. He needs to be phased out, all tournament he's been smashing it straight back to the opposition and it's killed me!!!
He’s incredibly dumb. Felt like eng was playing with 9 becuase of him, there were times when a defender was 1 metre away from him able to pick up the ball in loads of space. And he just boots it up and immediately loses it. Crazy to not realise after the first 5 times that he was just giving it away, pickford really encompasses the eng mentality to football
@@zinedinezidane4771 I think Pickford kept going long because all tournament England had been awful at moving the ball forward and in this match Spain were pressing much higher than their previous opponents.
It's taken me a week to be able to watch this video, usually watch your videos as soon as they uploaded. Adam, you have been brilliant - I'm looking forward to your premiere league coverage
Spain were awesome, just a shame England doesn't have a tactically adept manager who can get the team to play a certain way and execute great passing movements to pull teams apart....
Amazing analysis, great pointers, good call outs and a fair and objective review of the game and teams. Finally somebody recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of the English team without bias, this team has potential, they need the belief and support. Spain was just outstanding this tournament, a real team with an almost superficial connection and understanding of each other and the game. Nothing to be ashamed of for England, continue supporting these lads, they have a better chance of winning a trophy than any of the previous generation, you simply cannot get any closer than they have!!!
That bit of analysis on Kane 12-14 mins was so obviously true. For Southgate to play Kane in that role in a major final simply because he is called Harry Kane is a sackable offence on its own.
I don't get why Kane is the captain, he always talks like he's fed up and doesn't want to talk. Also half the time I'm not sure what he is saying anyways...
I just hope for the next tournament we have a coach who has a clear vision for the players at his disposal. Heartbreaking to see Kane shoehorned into a team that’s not set up to feed him, when Trent & Watkins could have combined to be the most dangerous duo in the competition.
All the cliches….”Could”, “Should”, “If only” Good players can try their best, Great players can play with anyone Kane Isn’t Fit. The team carried HIM. He wasn’t shoehorned anywhere… in fact he played like he had one boot pegged into the grass. Players can’t pass to someone who doesn’t move at the right time and in space to receive, whether it’s with their back to goal or on the side.
“The team wasn’t set up to feed him” lol if playing him as the sole focal point in front of 3 world class playmaking midfielders wasn’t settting the team up to feed him, what is?! 😅
@@rededed2136 That would be all well and good but you're forgetting one thing: He's hardly in the box to finish anyway under this manager. Or maybe it's just him doing what he wants, who knows? Walker was having a pretty bad game outside of stretching to win us a free kick in the first half. Considering Gareth was frothing at the mouth to play Trent at CM for two games, why in Gods good name did he not even give him a minute in his natural role when Walker's not up to it? Strange decisions all tournament.
@@footychat3992this was not the ideal game for Trent because of the Nicko Williams pace. Maybe is Saka was told to defend more and double marks Williams.
I think it does help Walker that he gets close with his pace. It doesn't stop the goal of course which is what he SHOULD be doing. But I do think TAA wouldn't have been as close had he not dropped back with the rest of the line and therefore it wouldn't be "a great pass" but instead poor defending. But I and many others thing Trent would have brought way more on the right side had he been playing.
Respectfully, I don't think we did okay. We had zero attacking presence again and got lucky with a first-time, 30 yard effort from Palmer which kept us in the game. Same story all tournament, it's like we were playing without a manager. There is no plan. I can organise a training session and sub Kane off for Toney/Watkins at 70 mins. Can I have a crack?
England had a spell of ten minutes and scored but that was it. Also, the Spain coach clearly saw something first half and told his men to exploit it as they tore into us at the start of the second half with great effect. Glad to hear of your success though, it’s well deserved.
I think part of it was dropping Rodri at half time. Whether it was purposeful or due to injury, it seemed to give us a false sense of confidence and could've been enough to undo the compactness that we showed in the first half.
After that 10 minute spell it was clear that several England players were dead on their feet, Bellingham kept stretching at every break in play. The throw in just before their goal Tripper and Gallagher were being readied to come on but the change never happened as it was too late and Spain scored before it could happen. While it worked out for him the rest of the tournament Southgate's subs were always 10 minutes after they should have been made and this time it came back to bite him he dallied Spain scored before he made the change and they never came on. Palmer could have come on with Watkins or Watkins could even have come on at half time TBH because Kane was dire this and every other match. It might not have made a difference but I think it would. I would love to know stats on average minutes played by subs in normal time for each team because I suspect (allowing for not using up all subs) we would comfortably have the least among all teams that were in the Euros which given the quality on our bench is shocking.
@@geordiedog1749 if England has continued to attack Spain after Palmers goal, I'm very sure they would have won in normal time or at least not conceded. But here they were, they adamantly allowed Spain to have the ball and hoped that they didn't concede. Who does that against a team with very dangerous wingers like Nico Williams and Lamine
I agree..you are the best channel to watch for tactical breakdowns during the tournament. Sorry your country lost. See you in the EPL match breakdown!!!!!
Let's be honest, the only reason England got to the final was because they were on the weak side of the bracket. On the other side they would have been out in the quarters. Good individual players no doubt, but not a cohesive team. Nice analysis.
I'm predominantly a Rugby League fan but have always watched and enjoyed football on occasion, rather than the weekly obsession. I've really enjoyed these analytical videos love the way you explain the movement impact on space for players to play. I'm also really encouraged because my two main bug bears of this tournament have been how deep Kane plays and the goalkeeper distribution!
Awesome analysis throughout the tournament, we appreciate you as much as you appreciate the viewership 👏👏👏 Absolutely guttered as an Englishman that this wasn't our night but cannot hate on the manager or the squad for how they managed to make it that far. Like you highlighted, sadly we had a couple of pieces to the wrong puzzles and that cost us and has caused alot of frustration and misjudgement of some players' quality. This result will have hurt the manager and players alot more than us armchair fans, which is saying something. Spain rightfully deserved this win though, fantastic to watch throughout, proved their doubters (Rabiot, Neville, etc) wrong throughout their run. Played to their strengths. Hopefully Southgate gets to keep his job, as I personally don't see a better replacement right now. Focus on building again on the progression he's made with getting consistently into tournament knockouts. Hopefully a long term left back or two emerge as well as a world class striker to take over from Kane. *I look forward to more analysis for the 2024/25 season*
Up to several years ago (when Four Four Two (Australia) magazine) ceased printing, I bought nearly every issue. In depth analysis and glossy photos got me hooked. Occasionally, I watch your TH-cam channel, and your coverage of Euro 2024 has been great. Commiserations to England. Spain were the better team throughout the tournament and this Final. This is a great video. Keep up with the great work. Cheers! (from Sydney 🇦🇺).
You are the most viewed because you are the best. This is UEFA badge level and beyond. I hope that you carry on in the domestic season and across all tiers. The more that people understand this level of analysis - not the dumbed down Match of the Day analysis - the more this country will develop Over. Out.
Adam, congratulations for your analysis in general. I wish other sport journalists would take a little time to analyse the game so thoroughly. You have also demonstrated your objectivity which makes you a good professional. I am Spanish and I didn't expect our team to get that far, honestly. I am sorry about England but I think we deserved the victory in the final. I wish you better luck in the next tournaments. Kind regards. Jose
The Spanish pressed really hard as Kane offered no threat to exploit the space behind them. As a result, I think it was very hard for Jordan Pickford to play it short as the Spanish were swarming all over the English. Kane was a massive problem, and should never have started the game. We needed speed and physicality up front to make the Spanish think twice and maybe not press as hard as they did. It was always going to be tough but Southgate needed to make a tough decision. In 1966 Sir Alf Ramsey made the tough decision of not bringing back the Great Jimmy Greaves, and instead went with the young Geoff Hurst and the rest was history. Imagine the stick he would have received had we not won! How could you not play England's best centre forward they would've said! It was a brave call from a brave manager. Southgate has brought the squad together which is to his credit, but he's too much of a nice bloke and is simply not proactive enough. England had to run their legs off to keep Spain at bay. Therefore we needed to use all five substitutes. It should have been a clear strategy.
Totally agree, why on earth Southgate could not see what the rest of us could AND do something about it is mind-blowingly incompetent or scared of upsetting the squad's morale....well i bet they are upset now Mr Southgate!.
In fairness, that is a common tactic in the Premier League, even from sides such as Arsenal. The aim though is to overload one wing with 3 players to win the ball and make an early entry into the opponent's box. The problem is when you repeat the long ball consistently in open play or from goal kicks. I can't remember how England set up but I would imagine Saka, Foden and Bellingham or Kane overloading the right (with the other remaining central) would be the best way to go.
Brilliant. Loved these videos over the tournament- thank you. If I hadnt watched this YT I'd have had Walker to blame for both goals, but good analysis shows it's not so simple, and that ESP were even better than they looked.
Don’t forget the Walker backwards throw in in the final third at a crucial time ending up with Pickford and hoof….out for a Spanish goal kick. Opportunity gone.
Ever since watching your Moises caicedo video this channel has been my favorite and in my opinion arguably the best tactical analysis videos on TH-cam can't wait for more to come!
I can't believe I've found a random TH-cam channel that understood the England team better than it's own manager 😭 Great analysis mate, it's coming home 2026.
One touch football can beat the best of defences. All three goals involved a one touch that created space for a player. Generally spain won because they zipped around the ball fast and england were slow as a glacier in comparison. One touch passing is risky though and that is something that Southgate cannot accept because he cannot trust his players to regain possession.
This is only possible because the movement of the players. England's off ball movement is not good enough to allow their technical players to play like this. Not enough players are at this level yet.
@@JMD166 I think it's more an attitude of mind and willingness to try things. Man u for a period of time especially with cole and Yorke used to do it all the time and used to bamboozle defences. Playing balls around corners with their backs to the goal trusting that their team mate would be there to receive it.
Excellent analysis. I’ve just subscribed on the back of it. The analysis shows just how fine the margins were. Extra time would have been compelling given the attacking players England finally had on the pitch. Would have loved to see Foden replaced on the left by Gordon for extra time - and wow, England could have finally thrown down the gauntlet and given us the attacking football we had all wanted to see. End to end; win or lose, I would gladly have taken that. The frustration is, the feeling that the England team were never unleashed to play to their full attacking ability and potential.
Good analysis. The main crime was giving the ball away so easily after the equaliser. We could barely get it off them when they decided to keep it. We needed to mirror that by keeping the ball ourselves for a bit when we won it back, but Pickford kept punting it forward to Watkins.
@N330AA I think bravery is needed on a battle field intelligence on the football pitch. Teams have known for ages England have good individual players who look good when playing with Rodri, odeegard, being coached by Pep, Arteta and Kloop etc but look at England at the Euro's our lack of game intelligence is a disaster which was exposed for all to see. Why is it that Spain can easily unlock a Press but our so called quality individual as a team can't ? Is it coaching ?
@@Victor-wp5jl You've taken the argument around in circles now back to the original point though. Yes we lacked game intelligence by punting the ball forward and losing it. That i blame on the manager.
Gracias Amigo, I'm of course happy my country won, and I know you wanted England to win, but eitherway thank you four the amazing videos. Been watching it all tournament long
What was PICKFORD doing for the 2nd goal? Look at his positioning and where he’s moving towards (away from the two attackers) I think he’s gifted them their 2nd rather than cutting it out or protecting the goal. Shocking.
Yep, enlightening and bit of therapy. Just one thing - Kane wasn't fit coming into the tournament (a back problem), and he didn't look any fitter as the weeks passed. Everybody in the England camp would have known that and yet it was apparently a no-go topic.
It became a huge problem for England I think. I got the sense from the Watkins press conferences that he was frustrated not to be getting more time on the pitch.
Great commentary! It was so incredible to me that when Spain scored their first goal not a single commentator even mentioned Carvajal's one touch pass around the corner to Yamal. It was the most important moment in the build up to the goal and was executed so well but no-one even seemed to notice. Nice to see that their are some critical commentators out there worth watching 👍👍 Also, playing Kane without a willing runner in behind for pretty much the entire tournament has to be one of Southgate's biggest tactical blunders. And here's my controversial idea (although maybe not that controversial)... Grealish should have been in the team to play on the left wing. No point trying to plug that gap with Foden, Bellingham or Trippier when you already have one of the best left wingers in Europe ready to start. Problem there is that Southgaff would have had to make a difficult decision regarding playing Foden OR Bellingham which he isn't strong enough to make. Here's an attacking line up that would have caused any team problems: Kane - Watkins Grealish - Bellingham - Rice - Saka Then you could rotate Bellingham for Foden and Watkins for Bowen/Eze/Toney as necessary. Perfect for resting players through the group stages.
Your analysis of the Kane not fitting in with the players around him and Pickfords constant kicking of the ball up field is so spot on. To watch as spectator was maddening. Which basically happened throughout tournament so the question on everybody’s lips is, WHY DIDN’T GARETH SOUTHGATE FIX THIS FUCKING PROBLEM…. I mean every other pundit could see it was a problem. So why didn’t Southgate. So let’s assume Southgate did actually ask Pickford to stop kicking the ball up field or asked Kane to make more of those runs in behind. Then if they didn’t do what he said he should have taken them off or not put them on the team sheet. (Personally I don’t think he would have told them) Either way you look at it, Southgate just isn’t cut out for top level management. Apart from the Dutch game England were so disjointed in pretty much all of their games. And as for the English FA to even consider giving Southgate another chance then I’m changing my nationality to become a San Marino citizen because they have more chance of winning the Euros than England ever will do under Southgate….. and lastly ppl Who say yeah but he got us to 2 finals and a semi and he’s the most successful English manager…. Put it this way I reckon if we’d had a different manager who knows what he’s doing and with the players we’ve had over the last 5 years we would have won at least one of those finals if not both.
I agree with the general criticism of Southgate, but I disagree that another manager (and certainly another English manager) would have won either of the two finals. I think we still tend to overestimate our players and that there are still huge gaps in tactical understanding between our players and a lot of other nations' players. We've caught up in technical ability in the last 10 years but still lack some tactical nowse. The example of how our press and defence broke down for the first goal is a prime example. Between Bellingham and Shaw (and Rice) we showed an inability to adjust. Bellingham affects nothing from that position and Shaw doesn't have to jump out to the wide player leaving his man since at that point he's not the primary threat. That let's Jamal in behind and then it's a just a scramble to get across leaving the right side open as described in the vid.
@@matthewdobson100the England players have won tournaments at youth level & have shown they are very technically proficient. I do think Southgate isn’t the best coach, but at the same time he has won more knock-out matches than any previous England manager. It’s like 2 things can be true: Southgate is the most successful England manager & England need a better manager to win tournaments.
Every single England fan in every single game was screaming at their TV that we couldn’t play Kane, Foden & Bellingham together. Its another Euro final where the best & most attacking squad in the tournament has been held back by one of the worst & most defensive managers. Again. 🙄😤
Too simplistic. Your looking at it from one side. Spain are technically better players. They play fluid creative football. England looked like plonkers by comparison
@@JMD166yeah, because the tactics were shit. England beat Spain in the euro u21s last year. It’s not just about technical players, it’s playing a system that works. Like the successful u21s, u19s and u17s have, yet for some reason Southgate has spurned simply to play all the big name players.
@@JMD166Spain are not a perfect team by any means though and we have attacking players that can’t hurt them given the right opportunities. This wasn’t like watching 1st v 3rd though. It was like watching 1st v bottom 5 in the premier league. They were our tactics.
I think Guehi's positional awareness in particular was very poor for the first goal - he pirouettes trying to cover a run by Morata that's already been covered by Stones, I think if he just closes down Yamal he almost certainly stops the pass from being played. Also I don't think Shaw needed to cover Carvajal at all - he's out wide, pretty close to the half way line and not an immediately threat. The only reason Carvajal place the first time ball is because Shaw has been drawn out of position.
Guehi was partly responsible for Spain second goal. Slowed down to jog, ball watching. Didn’t track runner on his outside. When he realised, it was too late. Sprinted to catch up but no good. Oyarzabal had gone ahead of him.
I'm not sure I agree about Guehi trying to cover Morata, I think he's pretty focused on Yamal. but do agree about Shaw, I have said elsewhere that the breakdown came on the left (originally with the pass going to Carvajal bypassing the entire midfield) and then the Shaw decision is probably the critical one, there's no real threat when Carvajal gets the ball. after that they're scrambling and I think there's a general breakdown in communication as each player makes individual decisions which seem fine in isolation (Guehi has to come out to Yamal, Stones has to go with Morata, Walker has to pick up Olmo) but result in Williams being free coming in on the right. Rice is perhaps the one who could have shifted his tracking back to take Olmo from Walker (instead of ending up trippling up on Yamal) to allow him to get back across to Williams earlier. But Rice had make up a lot of ground to get back already.
I hope that some of the English fans will stop hating on Bellingham... The lad just turned 21, after a very long season while being injured at the shoulder and gave its absolute maximum in each match. He had a big impact with his moments of genius over the tournament but like other great player such as Foden the system simply didn't allow him to shine as much as some "require" him to not be critized...
Hate that he was shoehorned into a left winger because Southgate couldn’t decide who to play as the 10 It’s no surprise why these players had awful tournaments
I have been saying for a long while that there's a space for intelligent, thoughtful and considered tactical analysis as the level that the mainstream operate on is woeful. This channel fills that space and has made watching the games a far more enjoyable experience as my own tactical understanding of the game is improving. I actually watched the two Spain goals back a few times to try to see how they had been caused and even though I saw some of the points raised in this tactical analysis, I missed some of them. Throughout the tournament the insight has been first-class. I look forward to watching more in the future. Thanks
This man should be England's manager, or at least assistant manager. Alight, manager maybe that's a bit much, but assistant manager 100% not kidding. This man knows tactics better than Gareth Southgate for sure.
Pretty sure I get through the entire 20 minutes here without focusing on Southgate once. Rest assured... that video's coming.
Alright thanks.
Time for Klopp
Pickford was terrible. Ramsdale needs to be playing. He is very good at passing
Also foden or Bellingham should have been taken off and not Mainoo. Rice open
All this tactical analysis just boils down to the fact that Southgate ain't a good manager by a mile. Came to that conclusion when Adam spoke bout kane's issues. For a manager not to be able to pick out a player's strengths and weaknesses is hugely underwhelming
You don't need to thank us, it's because it's the best, that's why we watch.
Ah, good sir, thou hast no need to thank us for our presence. Tis but the best that we seek, which is why we are watchful. Spare us thy empty words, for the only reason we behold is because of the excellence thou dost provide. If thou dost keep providing content of high quality, then we shall remain steadfast in our gaze. Yet, do not mistake our watching for favor twards thee. We seeketh only the finest, not thy empty flattery
@@dilksjoel so true king
@@dilksjoelexquisitely delivered, sire😂😂😂
@@ivanarthuraryee781 Why, these TH-camrs, verily they are bold! To thank we for our viewing of their creations is quite the insult, as if we lacked taste or discernment. Their arrogance is astounding, and the very thought of thanking us for our attention is a laughable notion. Let us cease this vain display of acknowledgment and let them recognize our superiority!
@@dilksjoel indubitably my good man😂
Playing the wrong players in the wrong positions has undone England AGAIN. System is king, some players have to be sacrificed for that. Team game Spain proved that.
It's kinda dumb. Like how many managers would kill to be able to make a substitution like, take off Bellingham and bring on Foden. Having that kind of depth in those positions is incredible, and allows you to tweak your system according to the opponent as well without having to completely disrupt it. Rotating Palmer, Saka and Gordon around, choosing between Kane, Watkins or Toney according to the situation. Southgate managed this team like it was a game of Fifa and just stacking the team with players with the highest stats.
100% right. Bellingham Foden and Kane all want to play in the same area.
@@LORDUnLuCkY13 Meh. Havertz, Musiala, Wirtrz and at times Gundugan all played the same area. Good tactical instructions and having both fullbacks go up made it work. Southgate did neither.
Couldn't agree more. When Palmer came on, we literally had three 10's on the pitch. I can't even imagine Gordon's frustration.
@@richardhp77Yep. Always felt the same thing about Gerrard/Lampard.
The fact that Yamal only needed 1 moment after getting past Shaw to create an opportunity that leads to a goal, shows how insane that, as a 17 year old, is to have that maturity and impact
Lmao plays for Barca and best European team and treat him like he’s a generational talent 😂😂
Cause he. Gets assists🤣😊
@@josephstalin5003 Youngest euros scorer at 16 years of age and done it when he's team was behind and is Barcelona's best player, not only is he a generation talent, he's set on course to be the best ever
Yeah, England could have played a lot better with a different manager, but they just don’t have Yamal or Williams. ✌️
@@josephstalin5003 you are definitely a vardrid fanboy. Keep coping, he eliminated most of your players.
@@josephstalin5003 he has 5 g and 5 assists in his first 16 matches of his career with spain. he has only 10 starts. he just turned 17 last week. we have never seen this before.
Very good analysis! thanks a lot for that. As Spaniard, I was afraid that England would keep pushing after they equilized and I was very surprised seeing them drowing back just 1 minute after. Insane how much space they gave up, double 6s just next to the center backs.... GRACIAS for your congratulations! respect for England.
Wow that first Spain goal was explained so well, the quality of Spanish players on the ball and their confident and smooth playstyle got them the opening goal
Perfectly explained. I'd like to mention Morata's deep run, creating that little extra space for Yamal. (Compare that to Harry Kane...)
Totally agree - first goal explanation was so clear.
@@mattttt5 Kane got exposed big time this tournament, he looked well past it. He’ll obviously always have that strikers instinct and incredible finishing, but he looked so lazy all tournament.
That first goal is all about first-time touch. Carvajal flicking that ball around Shaw just puts the cat amongst the pigeons as it totally caught Shaw out.
@@kdburner7356 Hes injured, he hadnt recovered from his back injury. If thats the case though you really have to question the player and manager. Players playing injured only hinders the team.
The players are people too. Thanks for analysing just the football and not just dumping on them
Totally it is a bad negative manager. He could play 3 central midfielders but not be negative.
Spain is an example of what happens when everyone plays in their proper positions, each position has the right player profile, players know what to do, and well coached, and most importantly every single player works his socks off for the team, and England just wasn't any of that, despite having better players on paper. I thought england may win via defense but couldn't even do that
En España hay una frase, el que juega a empatar siempre pierde
Spanish fan here. Gracias for the video, I love your analysis and I appreciate you made it 'cos when our team loses we just feel like forgetting asap and moving on
this man has not slept
Why? You must have the easiest job in the world if find this hard 😂
The fact that you think it's easy just shows how good a job he's doing.@@dondamon4669
@@dondamon4669 where did he say this was hard…?
@@dondamon4669it’s the amount of time and energy spent that’s being referred here than the actual difficulty of the analysis.
Watching and rewatching the match, noting points, making the outline for the script, gathering clips, gathering stats, filming the video then editing, etc etc. Quality video and in such a short time. Give credit where it’s due.
Adam, I love watching FourFourTwo. I’m an American and when I finally discovered football I was thirsty to understand it in the same technical manner I did with American Football. This channel has taught me so much, and is a must watch when new videos drop. Thank you!
I wish America gave football a chance I would love to see how they would dominate it since you have the resources
@@nassernathan Womens soccer is quite popular though? Especially in colleges? I'm from UK so kinda guessing
@bryonwheaton7295 Do you have a similar channel for American Football you'd recommend?
Some people are criticising poor individual performances from the likes of Rice and Walker to excuse Southgate... WHEN THAT'S ALSO ON HIM ffs. Look at the total minutes played for all outfield players at the Euros - the fact that Stones, Walker and Rice were even allowed to play EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of England's entire Euros campaign is an absolute disgrace.
That's 7 games, 2 of which went to extra-time.. that's 690mins which averages to 98mins per game! Saka, Foden, Bellingham and Kane were also the only outfield players to play over 600mins this tournament. Guehi clocked up 570mins and he was banned for 1 game. By comparison, not ONE single outfield Spanish player played as many minutes this tournament as Guehi did - Cucurella is closest at 546mins.
Purely for the sake of this team's health alone, Southgate should be sacked.
Completely agree with this assessment! Maybe this answers the question of how do Bellingham and Foden play in the same team? As subs for one another - start the hot hand and bring on the other after 60ish minutes. The lack of rotation in this England team was telling! With top players racking up 60+ games for their clubs it's simply irresponsible to have them playing 7 near 100 minute games over the space of a month for England. Of course the players are always going to want to play it's up to the manager to be ruthless and protect them from themselves for the good of the team.
Why did Southgate even bother to take Gordon, or Wharton, and even Watkins & Toney! The fact Shaw played more minutes than all of these players combined when he'd not played for 5 months is utterly ridiculous (Nearly as ridiculous as not taking another recognized LB but I digress)
This England team was crying out for changes to meet both tactical and fitness needs - This falls at Southgate's feet and for me makes it clear that while he's done an excellent job turning England into contenders he's not the man to take the England team to the next level of actually winning a tournament.
Spain won their first 2 group games...
Then used the excuse his players were tired
If Ytubers are putting together competent analysis all the time, what the FUCK are the staff in the England team doing?
I suppose it’s one thing to analyse a game, and another to know the best way to execute the difficulties
Tomarse unas buenas siestas después de un buen vino .
I think it is a little different to make a split second decision on the pitch of a live game than later analysing and having all the time of the world to do it.
@@MibS these issues have been around for weeks, what are you talking about?
Bottling it?
Gordon really should have played to free up Kane in the centre with runs down the left. How Southgate couldn't see this was one of the main frustrations of the tournament.
It’s always the player not on the pitch who is the England messiah right
We played an entire tournament with no left wing.. to to shoehorn in Foden who contributed zero. 😂 it’s laughable how bad they were
@@novianovioTVIt's more about putting the right players into the system and not trying to cram every superstar name in.
Foden should never have played on the left in the 4-2-3-1, though he suited the right-sided CAM role in the 3-4-2-1. Kane shouldn't be starting if he is physically unable to make the runs required in a pressing or even counterattacking system, and if he has to play he should be paired with a proper LW like Gordon or a second striker like Watkins. Trent should've played RB instead of Walker against opponents we knew would set up in a low block. The list goes on.
@@novianovioTVthat's not what I heard. What I heard was someone like Gordon could have helped the team function better, which I think many would agree with.
@@novianovioTV Well no, that's my point. Kane might have been the Messiah, but the system didn't allow for it with no LW and Saka 9/10 cutting inside being left footed on the right. Kane was on the pitch the whole time.
Thanks from Spain. You've been quite honest and I can tell how hard has been for you to make this video. I wanted to know English people point of view and you gave to me. Thanks again for your video, your dedication and for explaining everything so clear. Big hug.
Spain were exceptional and well deserved winners. They were set up very well, every player knew their role and the system of play. Add to that supreme technical skill and tournament IQ that spanish players play from the age of 6, this culture is built to be competitive, and use their strengths to win with 15 goals and 7 wins… incredible. This is in stark contrast to England who struggled with all of the aforementioned. Having coached in England for 10 years snd Barcelona i can tell you, this culture of competitive sport is something they grow up with. This is what breads confidence and a winning mentality
Great comment. Very interesting. 👍🏻
Spain have always been Europe's best technicians. Our youth development has improved massively over the last couple of decades. Beating the Spanish U-21's proves this.
England are not far off. But I will agree that the football culture, the youth coaching, in Spain, surpasses the general English approach.
Despite the progressive knowledge of the English elite set up, it still seems not to permeate through as much as in other countries.
By the way Scotland 2 Spain 0 in March 2023. They are not such a brilliant team, let's be honest. This isn't the Spain with Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta and Villa. They were beatable.
@@martinladley may i also add, In my opinion Coaching “tactical and technical knowledge” is higher too. Lots of my Spanish Coaching friends were baffled at how England set up and were deighted to see Kane & Foden play, but shocked Bellibgham wasnt in the middle of Midfield. Many also asked me after the semi final what Englands style of play was? They seemed as confussed as me 🤨
It was Spains 11 vs Englands 10 in truth. Harry Kant looked and played like he was asked to dance at his old school reunion.
Nobody had the guts to dig him out.
Every time the ball was played high and long to him, he never once won the ball in the air.
He then started to drop deep to receive which meant the ball kept coming back
He never once jumped to compete yet alone win it.
Bloody hell, that match was a farce! Spain against England, more like Spain against Harry Kane! The bloke looked like he was forced to dance at his old school reunion, just as feeble and timid as ever. Why on earth didn't anybody pull him out of there? Every time a high ball was played towards him, he was lost in the air, never won once. Then, to top it off, he started dropping back as if he was playing for bloody Barcelona! Pass after pass came back, like a bloody merry-go-round! Disgusting display, that was!
Yep, compared to previous tournaments he was really poor at taking the ball with back to goal, winning headers against a defender, or running past a defender. That's pretty much all his link up play gone. I'm assuming he wasn't fully fit, probably shouldn't have started, and if he did start the plan could never be for Pickford to kick long balls to Kane.
@@davegold Ah, mate, you're having a laugh! Poor at taking the ball with my back to goal? VWinning headers? Running past defenders? All gone, is it? was playing my heart out out there! And you're assuming I wasn't fully fit? Probably shouldn't have started? And that long-ball strategy? Let me tell you something, it's not my fault if the plan wasn't working. I was busting my balls out there! So maybe think before you go mouthing off, alright?
@@dilksjoel No way is this Harry Kane?
The frustration for me is that is patently obvious that Saka/Bellingham/Foden is not a good midfield to put behind Kane or that Kane isn’t the forward to put in front of them. I can see it and TH-cam analysts can see it so why can’t Southgate?
False flag to allow Southgate the opportunity to drop Kane before the WC
Saka is useless
Maybe Sancho is better than him
@@LionelMessi-ph2cv Delusional.
Happy the euro's are over, get to hear less of these horrible takes.
@@LionelMessi-ph2cvtake a lap
Im sure Southgate saw it, but what else was he going to do? The players he would have picked are carrying injuries, and god forbid we start a campaign without a recognised Captain. This is the hand he was delt and he just had to make the most of it.
Every pundit, every fan, every casual. They were all calling for England to not start Kane. Southgate was the smartest man in the room though.
John Barnes made the best analysis today. Spain picked players that could play the way their coach required while England ie Southgate picked the top players without looking for players that could play together to make a winning team. Has always been this way hence 58 years with nothing
That’s in part because the media pick the team. And in part because we over rate our players. Would we have wanted to play Cucurella if he was English.
@@novianovioTVnah , tripper at left back 🤦♂️
It's because statistically England are on a par with Portugal but stylistically have more in common with Belguim. People shouldn’t expect any more from them than the Belgians do from their team. The idea that England is some sort of elite footballing nation is nonsense and only has its roots in the fact that the game originated in these islands, but it was the Scottish who really adapted and refined it.
The World Cup victory in 1966 was due to home advantage, a handful of their best players ever, three of whom - Peters, Moore & Hurst were developed by England’s best ever coach - Ron Greenwood, whose West Ham side didn’t play traditional English football.
The success at club level in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s was greatly assisted by Scots, Welsh and Irish players.
England have never produced players skilful enough (with a handful of exceptions) for the very highest international standards due to the league’s physical, results-oriented football (which is what the fans really want) and because we have still not accepted the fact that coaching is a vital part of the game.
Relying on counter attacks with a slow team, who thought this would have happened Mr Gareth?
This team isn’t slow by any stretch of the imagination…The issue with the team is Kane… he’s the best striker in the world but he doesn’t suit this team not because he is bad but he just don’t fit
Second time I've heard this and I don't get it, England team is literally full of pace merchants
@@kingcort8073and what is more annoying if he wants Kane for the love of god at least play one winger who runs, like Gordon! Common sense! Or drop Kane for Watkins who runs! Have to do one or the other, how can Southgate not see that
@cryptobullflow or play both
Gordon on the left would have made a huge difference and watkins would have been far more effective than Kane.
But Southgate has to fit the big names in causing the team in every match to be imbalanced with nothing on the left and zero movement upfront.
Terrible tactics
Not taking Rashford was a criminal move by Southgate..this was the type of game he could’ve revelled in. We lacked pace & prowess going forward.
You genuinely have the best analysis
First of all, I wanted to congratulate you for the video, because it is extremely well crafted and it makes you understand the final so, so much better. I watched the final with a very good friend of mine from England, and she was as disappointed as you were at the end of the video. Nevertheless, I also wanted to thank you for acknowledging Spanish team’s skills. It was a real honor to play against you lads, I really think this generation of players you have deserves better.
Great analysis. I've been saying for years that England do not have the calibre of players with high quality IQ. The start of the match. England have kick off. The ball goes back to Pickford and he launches it. The match was lost there and then, inside the 1st minute of the game. I thought I went back in time to the days of Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton. GK in League 2 don't even do this any longer.
I'm from Spain and honestly when I saw that, I immediately thought it was an intentional declaration of intentions by England. "You have the ball, Spain, we're going to low-block this".
you deserve the love you get here Adam! can't wait for more videos from you guys over the coming season :))
England need to play the best player in that position, not try and get good players on the pitch and ask them to play out of position. We did this in the past and it failed every time.
Correct.
I think this is probably the first time Southgate has done this heavily at a tournament.
Almost correct, they need to play complementary players. Kane needs runners. If you don't have runners, you need a forward who stays up top.
I once chatted with Brian Clough who said precisely that. He said I have a team in my head and if the right player is a league or two down the football league it doesn;t matter if he's spot on right. In those days I was a midfielder and used to watch John Mc Govern who captained forest to win the then european cup. He is never mentioned as an all time great midfield player - but he was spot on in the team cloughie had in his head.
@@Hoistayeah exactly, not the best players, the right players. If we took runners for our wingers instead of players who want the ball to their feet then Kane would work better with them but everyone wants the ball to feet so a different profile of striker is needed for that scenario. Players like Gordon, and Palmer are better suited to play with Kane while Foden, Bellingham and Saka are better suited to play with Watkins. It's not a matter of fielding the best players but the right players as you said.
Loved the analysis all tournament. During the Spanish second goal I saw that gap and positioning and my heart sank as I could sense it was going to lead to something bad but credit to you guys as I think watching these videos (despite watching football all my life) has given me a new sense of the game.
As far as I can tell, this is the first channel to really point out Pickford's terrible ball distribution in the second half. Many times it hurt England and that was clearly visible in costing them build up play as well as basic ball retention.
I blame Englands outfield players for this, so many passing sequences ended with ball being passed back to pickford to launch the ball forward.
It amazes me that his dreadful kicking wasn't called out once by BBC. Just when we were on top after our goal, walker throws it back from the Spain corner. It ends up at Pickford and he kicks it out for a Spain goal kick 😮. That killed our momentum and the BBC commentary didn't even mention it!
@@StuHolland They had been playing like that all tournament. Remember when Walker won a free kick in the opposition half and hoofed it to the only attacking player free in his own half? That sums it up for me. I remember the incident you were talking about too. I screamed at the TV!
It must have been an instruction to kick it long, I just can’t imagine he didn’t see it failing over and over again
Cgg Nu cjrcccc crcccjc Cj rc😊
Best breakdowns ever! Found you recently at the end of the Prem season and now I can’t miss a video!
Great work. Also you have to give massive respect to Zubimendi. Rodri, world's best player in his position gets injured halfway in the match and he goes out there to give that recital of football
@mandreshyp6683 Zubimendi only had a good game because Foden stopped marking him and instead half heartedly started marking Fabian Luis. Mainoo was invisible in the midfield so Zubimendi was almost always unchallenged when he got the ball.
@@Best_game59 they thought zubimendi is not a good player their arrogance 😂😂
@@sgsjosh2000 That's very true, when Rodri came on out, Mainoo was left without somebody to mark, Foden followed Fabian Luis who had dropped to right back as Cavahal took the left 8 position from which he gave Lamine a one touch pass to get Shaw out of position...
in the first half it was mostly Rodri that was opening wide to the flank which dragged Foden out of the middle and allowed Laporte to drive the ball unopposed to the midfield. once Spain got a sense of the man marking madness that Southgate imposed, they played around it in a very smart way.
This series has been the best thing about the Euros for me, and the only content I wanted to watch after the Final. Thank you for the charm and honesty and (obviously) all the insight - truly helped keep me sane during the media meltdowns over Denmark/ Slovenia/ Slovakia especially.
My guy, you are sheer class. Giving credit where credit is due and doing in it in such a context. From a spaniard that used to think I'll never ever see my team win fuck all, then 2008 happened. Best wishes.
True! Perdíamos siempre.
Been waiting for this, thank God it's finally here
Me too haha, been refreshing TH-cam all day. Need this so I can start the 5 stages of grief 😂
@@KevCraven 😂😂😂 somehow never wanted England to reach the finals coz of their boring football, but I also never liked Spain. But England were the better devil in yesterday's finals, but they disappointed me after equalizing and refusing to play football.
Congratulations for your job in this channel. I'm spanish and I saw your video twice, a brilliant analysis of the match that I haven't seen anywhere else. I learnt a lot. I never thought such little decisions can make such a big difference. And congrats again for your professionalism being so impartial when obviously you where so involved on this emotionally. Thanks.
Thank you for your insight throughout the tournament. I am (unashamedly) one of those fans who crawls out of the woodwork every two years for the major tournaments and pays no attention to football the rest of the time. But during this period I am genuinely interested in what's going on, and a couple of former stars saying "he needs a bit more quality at the finish" is deeply unsatisfying punditry. So to stumble across someone giving proper tactical analysis such that a layman can follow has been a pleasure. I hope to find your content again in two years!
It was so painful to watch England play these Euros. With these amazing offensive players you could have made each game a shootout and challenge the opponents to score one more than you. Yeah, defense might win championships, but to waste all this talent and make all of Europe suffer with this kind of football brutalism is just a shame. Get a competent manager and England will be a force in future tournaments. Or at least fun to watch. Cheers from Germany.
@@johnmckiernan2176best thing I've seen on the internet today 😂
Klopp is that you. lol
Been saying that for 3 tournaments in a row.
@@johnmckiernan2176so glad I'm English and we can actually enjoy a major tournament. Must be weird living in salty envy.
@@aldozilli1293 it wasn't just Ireland that found it funny. Trust me. 😂
You know the quality of this channel is excellent because they often describe quite subtle, intricate things, but if you take it on board and keep your eyes open, you see it happen in the game and you go 'look! That thing that guy on youtube said would happen is happening!' Worlds apart from 'this team should get it out wide more often' or 'that team aren't a team they are just a bunch of individuals playing for themselves' or any of the other tired one-liners football fans usually get served up as analysis.
Very good video.
The best thing about this Spanish team is that the coach has chosen his players without listening to the press. He has chosen players with whom he knew he could play in a certain way.
As a spaniard,I have to say you really did a great análisis. You deserve all the atentión and views you are geting. I'll subscribe
As a Spaniard, I am very proud of our national team's performance, and I also feel like justice has been made, since England and France have the players to play much better and have underperformed. Yesterday for instance Foden was focused on shading Rodri (who still played well) thus losing what he does best. Spain simply played better as a team and both pressing and offense feel so natural they almost do it instinctively, they did plan an adapt to every team but they didn't stop playing to their strengths. I was hooked to the entire Euros and I loved watching your analysis, Thanks for all the great videos and take care, mate!
i said, if England win great. If Spain, Football wins. Football won yesterday.
I think the most impressive thing about Spain in the tournament was after the Germany game you had to make some big changes to your lineup and still outplayed France.
I always support Germany and Spain. That match was kinda the real final IMO.
España got lucky, overrated 😊
@@samchris3793😂
@@olikane530Winning the 7 matches in a row I wouldn't say its due to luck.
Not just the Euros -- pretty much *the* best tactics channel period for the past year now. These have made my bus commutes very fruitful since last September. Thanks, Adam (and Adam, and team)
First time watcher, simply amazing analysis. The Spain first goal now feels better because they simply outplayed us.
I wish you’d analysed the throwin just after the goal that Walker through from their box back to Pickford and how Pickford didn’t pick out Watkins clever run.
But brilliant analysis 👏
Amazing analysis. I'm sure the page will only get bigger.
So refreshing to not have to listen to opinions and negativity surrounding England. You summed it up perfectly, we did quite well and were beat by a better team. The future looks bright for this England squad.
Thank You and Keep up the great work 👏
Great analysis all tournament - cheers Adam & team !
I'm so glad you've picked up on Jordan Puntford. He needs to be phased out, all tournament he's been smashing it straight back to the opposition and it's killed me!!!
Partly that’s because Stones hasn’t been distributing the ball well out of defence.
That's a manager's instructions no ?
@@zinedinezidane4771no, he does it with Everton too. Maybe due to their play style but likely because he can’t play out the back.
He’s incredibly dumb. Felt like eng was playing with 9 becuase of him, there were times when a defender was 1 metre away from him able to pick up the ball in loads of space. And he just boots it up and immediately loses it. Crazy to not realise after the first 5 times that he was just giving it away, pickford really encompasses the eng mentality to football
@@zinedinezidane4771 I think Pickford kept going long because all tournament England had been awful at moving the ball forward and in this match Spain were pressing much higher than their previous opponents.
It's taken me a week to be able to watch this video, usually watch your videos as soon as they uploaded. Adam, you have been brilliant - I'm looking forward to your premiere league coverage
Thanks for putting these videos together. My son (10 yrs old) and I have enjoyed watching them.
Spain were awesome, just a shame England doesn't have a tactically adept manager who can get the team to play a certain way and execute great passing movements to pull teams apart....
In one month this channel has gone from one I've never heard of to a must watch the day of release
Amazing analysis, great pointers, good call outs and a fair and objective review of the game and teams. Finally somebody recognizes the strengths and weaknesses of the English team without bias, this team has potential, they need the belief and support. Spain was just outstanding this tournament, a real team with an almost superficial connection and understanding of each other and the game.
Nothing to be ashamed of for England, continue supporting these lads, they have a better chance of winning a trophy than any of the previous generation, you simply cannot get any closer than they have!!!
That bit of analysis on Kane 12-14 mins was so obviously true. For Southgate to play Kane in that role in a major final simply because he is called Harry Kane is a sackable offence on its own.
I don't get why Kane is the captain, he always talks like he's fed up and doesn't want to talk. Also half the time I'm not sure what he is saying anyways...
I just hope for the next tournament we have a coach who has a clear vision for the players at his disposal. Heartbreaking to see Kane shoehorned into a team that’s not set up to feed him, when Trent & Watkins could have combined to be the most dangerous duo in the competition.
All the cliches….”Could”, “Should”, “If only”
Good players can try their best, Great players can play with anyone
Kane Isn’t Fit. The team carried HIM. He wasn’t shoehorned anywhere… in fact he played like he had one boot pegged into the grass.
Players can’t pass to someone who doesn’t move at the right time and in space to receive, whether it’s with their back to goal or on the side.
“The team wasn’t set up to feed him”
lol if playing him as the sole focal point in front of 3 world class playmaking midfielders wasn’t settting the team up to feed him, what is?! 😅
@@ObjectiveMedia having wingers making runs in behind...
@@rededed2136 That would be all well and good but you're forgetting one thing: He's hardly in the box to finish anyway under this manager. Or maybe it's just him doing what he wants, who knows?
Walker was having a pretty bad game outside of stretching to win us a free kick in the first half. Considering Gareth was frothing at the mouth to play Trent at CM for two games, why in Gods good name did he not even give him a minute in his natural role when Walker's not up to it? Strange decisions all tournament.
@@footychat3992this was not the ideal game for Trent because of the Nicko Williams pace. Maybe is Saka was told to defend more and double marks Williams.
How Walker is getting away with this is beyond me. If Trent was out of position like that you lot would crucify him
I think it does help Walker that he gets close with his pace. It doesn't stop the goal of course which is what he SHOULD be doing. But I do think TAA wouldn't have been as close had he not dropped back with the rest of the line and therefore it wouldn't be "a great pass" but instead poor defending. But I and many others thing Trent would have brought way more on the right side had he been playing.
Bet
Man, best and most eloquent tactical video on the final. Been waiting for it big time. As well as one before the final.
Respectfully, I don't think we did okay. We had zero attacking presence again and got lucky with a first-time, 30 yard effort from Palmer which kept us in the game.
Same story all tournament, it's like we were playing without a manager. There is no plan. I can organise a training session and sub Kane off for Toney/Watkins at 70 mins. Can I have a crack?
England had a spell of ten minutes and scored but that was it. Also, the Spain coach clearly saw something first half and told his men to exploit it as they tore into us at the start of the second half with great effect.
Glad to hear of your success though, it’s well deserved.
Wish I knew what that was lol. They came out and within seconds ripped us a new one.
I think part of it was dropping Rodri at half time. Whether it was purposeful or due to injury, it seemed to give us a false sense of confidence and could've been enough to undo the compactness that we showed in the first half.
Im sure that deep defending and open invitation to Spain with no real counter attacking threat was discussed at half time.
After that 10 minute spell it was clear that several England players were dead on their feet, Bellingham kept stretching at every break in play. The throw in just before their goal Tripper and Gallagher were being readied to come on but the change never happened as it was too late and Spain scored before it could happen. While it worked out for him the rest of the tournament Southgate's subs were always 10 minutes after they should have been made and this time it came back to bite him he dallied Spain scored before he made the change and they never came on. Palmer could have come on with Watkins or Watkins could even have come on at half time TBH because Kane was dire this and every other match. It might not have made a difference but I think it would.
I would love to know stats on average minutes played by subs in normal time for each team because I suspect (allowing for not using up all subs) we would comfortably have the least among all teams that were in the Euros which given the quality on our bench is shocking.
@@geordiedog1749 if England has continued to attack Spain after Palmers goal, I'm very sure they would have won in normal time or at least not conceded. But here they were, they adamantly allowed Spain to have the ball and hoped that they didn't concede. Who does that against a team with very dangerous wingers like Nico Williams and Lamine
Buen análisis, me gusta mucho la manera en que lo explicas , saludos desde España.
I agree..you are the best channel to watch for tactical breakdowns during the tournament. Sorry your country lost. See you in the EPL match breakdown!!!!!
u are the best football anaylsis channel! :)
Let's be honest, the only reason England got to the final was because they were on the weak side of the bracket. On the other side they would have been out in the quarters. Good individual players no doubt, but not a cohesive team. Nice analysis.
In previous tournaments they would still have gone out to the lower ranked teams.
@@johnferguson4869 they seconds away to do so
It would be better if you said something we all don’t already know
the only reason spain got to the final is thanks to referee, and also that also the reason the win it within normal time :D
They were a Slovakian clearance away from going out in the 2nd round.
I'm predominantly a Rugby League fan but have always watched and enjoyed football on occasion, rather than the weekly obsession. I've really enjoyed these analytical videos love the way you explain the movement impact on space for players to play. I'm also really encouraged because my two main bug bears of this tournament have been how deep Kane plays and the goalkeeper distribution!
These videos have been an absolute pleasure throughout the tournament and during the premier league season before.
Thank you 🙏
Awesome analysis throughout the tournament, we appreciate you as much as you appreciate the viewership 👏👏👏
Absolutely guttered as an Englishman that this wasn't our night but cannot hate on the manager or the squad for how they managed to make it that far.
Like you highlighted, sadly we had a couple of pieces to the wrong puzzles and that cost us and has caused alot of frustration and misjudgement of some players' quality. This result will have hurt the manager and players alot more than us armchair fans, which is saying something.
Spain rightfully deserved this win though, fantastic to watch throughout, proved their doubters (Rabiot, Neville, etc) wrong throughout their run. Played to their strengths.
Hopefully Southgate gets to keep his job, as I personally don't see a better replacement right now. Focus on building again on the progression he's made with getting consistently into tournament knockouts. Hopefully a long term left back or two emerge as well as a world class striker to take over from Kane.
*I look forward to more analysis for the 2024/25 season*
Up to several years ago (when Four Four Two (Australia) magazine) ceased printing, I bought nearly every issue. In depth analysis and glossy photos got me hooked. Occasionally, I watch your TH-cam channel, and your coverage of Euro 2024 has been great. Commiserations to England. Spain were the better team throughout the tournament and this Final. This is a great video. Keep up with the great work. Cheers! (from Sydney 🇦🇺).
You are the most viewed because you are the best. This is UEFA badge level and beyond.
I hope that you carry on in the domestic season and across all tiers. The more that people understand this level of analysis - not the dumbed down Match of the Day analysis - the more this country will develop
Over. Out.
Seconded!
I just remember heartbreaking Bellingham cry for the team to press only to look back, and they are retreating.....then they conceded 1st.
Adam, congratulations for your analysis in general. I wish other sport journalists would take a little time to analyse the game so thoroughly. You have also demonstrated your objectivity which makes you a good professional. I am Spanish and I didn't expect our team to get that far, honestly. I am sorry about England but I think we deserved the victory in the final. I wish you better luck in the next tournaments. Kind regards. Jose
The Spanish pressed really hard as Kane offered no threat to exploit the space behind them.
As a result, I think it was very hard for Jordan Pickford to play it short as the Spanish were swarming all over the English.
Kane was a massive problem, and should never have started the game. We needed speed and physicality up front to make the Spanish think twice and maybe not press as hard as they did. It was always going to be tough but Southgate needed to make a tough decision. In 1966 Sir Alf Ramsey made the tough decision of not bringing back the Great Jimmy Greaves, and instead went with the young Geoff Hurst and the rest was history. Imagine the stick he would have received had we not won! How could you not play England's best centre forward they would've said!
It was a brave call from a brave manager. Southgate has brought the squad together which is to his credit, but he's too much of a nice bloke and is simply not proactive enough. England had to run their legs off to keep Spain at bay. Therefore we needed to use all five substitutes. It should have been a clear strategy.
Totally agree, why on earth Southgate could not see what the rest of us could AND do something about it is mind-blowingly incompetent or scared of upsetting the squad's morale....well i bet they are upset now Mr Southgate!.
The kick-off said it all - pass back to Pickford who then hoofs it. From the kick-off. England in a nutshell.
With 4 minutes left😅that was hilarious and annoying
In fairness, that is a common tactic in the Premier League, even from sides such as Arsenal. The aim though is to overload one wing with 3 players to win the ball and make an early entry into the opponent's box. The problem is when you repeat the long ball consistently in open play or from goal kicks.
I can't remember how England set up but I would imagine Saka, Foden and Bellingham or Kane overloading the right (with the other remaining central) would be the best way to go.
The one time I noticed him throw it out we scored.
This was a terrific breakdown. I did not see it at the time watching the game but, wow.
Brilliant. Loved these videos over the tournament- thank you.
If I hadnt watched this YT I'd have had Walker to blame for both goals, but good analysis shows it's not so simple, and that ESP were even better than they looked.
To use a cricketing analogy, Southgate got hold of Kevin Peterson and forced him to bat like Geoff Boycott.
There was a perfect player for the right wing in Trent. I'm sort of glad now he was saved the trouble playing for Southgate more.
Enjoyed your analysis throughout. Great work fella 👍
Its the only tactical analysis of the Euros on youtube me son. Your taking the piss m8.
Don’t forget the Walker backwards throw in in the final third at a crucial time ending up with Pickford and hoof….out for a Spanish goal kick. Opportunity gone.
Ever since watching your Moises caicedo video this channel has been my favorite and in my opinion arguably the best tactical analysis videos on TH-cam can't wait for more to come!
I can't believe I've found a random TH-cam channel that understood the England team better than it's own manager 😭 Great analysis mate, it's coming home 2026.
The more it's said, the less likely it will happen.
Nothing random about this channel. Best tactical analysis out there.
England are hosting??
That was a great video. I loved the part in 9:00 about rotational threats.
It was painful to see Walker not do his job for either goal after the media hunting TAA for his defense.
One touch football can beat the best of defences. All three goals involved a one touch that created space for a player. Generally spain won because they zipped around the ball fast and england were slow as a glacier in comparison.
One touch passing is risky though and that is something that Southgate cannot accept because he cannot trust his players to regain possession.
This is only possible because the movement of the players. England's off ball movement is not good enough to allow their technical players to play like this. Not enough players are at this level yet.
A great example of Spains technical superiority
@@matthewdobson100 that's what gets me. The only exercise that clubs seem to use is the rondo which have little practical results on the pitch.
@@JMD166 I think it's more an attitude of mind and willingness to try things. Man u for a period of time especially with cole and Yorke used to do it all the time and used to bamboozle defences. Playing balls around corners with their backs to the goal trusting that their team mate would be there to receive it.
We got played off the park for 80 mins
This is an absolutely incredible analysis. Very well done.
Excellent analysis. I’ve just subscribed on the back of it. The analysis shows just how fine the margins were. Extra time would have been compelling given the attacking players England finally had on the pitch.
Would have loved to see Foden replaced on the left by Gordon for extra time - and wow, England could have finally thrown down the gauntlet and given us the attacking football we had all wanted to see. End to end; win or lose, I would gladly have taken that.
The frustration is, the feeling that the England team were never unleashed to play to their full attacking ability and potential.
Good analysis. The main crime was giving the ball away so easily after the equaliser. We could barely get it off them when they decided to keep it. We needed to mirror that by keeping the ball ourselves for a bit when we won it back, but Pickford kept punting it forward to Watkins.
Yeah, Pickford long balls were awful.
You know why Puntford was punting it forward cause England can't play themselves out of the Spanish press. The Spanish knew that also.
@@Victor-wp5jl Semi-agree. But we had to be braver.
@N330AA I think bravery is needed on a battle field intelligence on the football pitch. Teams have known for ages England have good individual players who look good when playing with Rodri, odeegard, being coached by Pep, Arteta and Kloop etc but look at England at the Euro's our lack of game intelligence is a disaster which was exposed for all to see. Why is it that Spain can easily unlock a Press but our so called quality individual as a team can't ? Is it coaching ?
@@Victor-wp5jl You've taken the argument around in circles now back to the original point though. Yes we lacked game intelligence by punting the ball forward and losing it. That i blame on the manager.
one team plays to win and the other plays to not get beaten
I enjoyed a lot ! Really big knowledge you have ! Gracias desde España
Gracias Amigo, I'm of course happy my country won, and I know you wanted England to win, but eitherway thank you four the amazing videos. Been watching it all tournament long
What was PICKFORD doing for the 2nd goal? Look at his positioning and where he’s moving towards (away from the two attackers) I think he’s gifted them their 2nd rather than cutting it out or protecting the goal. Shocking.
Exactly. It's like he didnt notice the red shirt coming at him and was trying to turn the ball around the post when he had no chance to get there
Yep, enlightening and bit of therapy. Just one thing - Kane wasn't fit coming into the tournament (a back problem), and he didn't look any fitter as the weeks passed. Everybody in the England camp would have known that and yet it was apparently a no-go topic.
It was ridiculous.
It became a huge problem for England I think. I got the sense from the Watkins press conferences that he was frustrated not to be getting more time on the pitch.
Amazing content all Euros long. Thank you Adam and team 442. Looking forward to the new season and your analytics.
Great commentary!
It was so incredible to me that when Spain scored their first goal not a single commentator even mentioned Carvajal's one touch pass around the corner to Yamal. It was the most important moment in the build up to the goal and was executed so well but no-one even seemed to notice.
Nice to see that their are some critical commentators out there worth watching 👍👍
Also, playing Kane without a willing runner in behind for pretty much the entire tournament has to be one of Southgate's biggest tactical blunders.
And here's my controversial idea (although maybe not that controversial)...
Grealish should have been in the team to play on the left wing. No point trying to plug that gap with Foden, Bellingham or Trippier when you already have one of the best left wingers in Europe ready to start. Problem there is that Southgaff would have had to make a difficult decision regarding playing Foden OR Bellingham which he isn't strong enough to make.
Here's an attacking line up that would have caused any team problems:
Kane - Watkins
Grealish - Bellingham - Rice - Saka
Then you could rotate Bellingham for Foden and Watkins for Bowen/Eze/Toney as necessary. Perfect for resting players through the group stages.
Your analysis of the Kane not fitting in with the players around him and Pickfords constant kicking of the ball up field is so spot on. To watch as spectator was maddening. Which basically happened throughout tournament so the question on everybody’s lips is, WHY DIDN’T GARETH SOUTHGATE FIX THIS FUCKING PROBLEM…. I mean every other pundit could see it was a problem. So why didn’t Southgate. So let’s assume Southgate did actually ask Pickford to stop kicking the ball up field or asked Kane to make more of those runs in behind. Then if they didn’t do what he said he should have taken them off or not put them on the team sheet. (Personally I don’t think he would have told them) Either way you look at it, Southgate just isn’t cut out for top level management. Apart from the Dutch game England were so disjointed in pretty much all of their games. And as for the English FA to even consider giving Southgate another chance then I’m changing my nationality to become a San Marino citizen because they have more chance of winning the Euros than England ever will do under Southgate….. and lastly ppl
Who say yeah but he got us to 2 finals and a semi and he’s the most successful English manager…. Put it this way I reckon if we’d had a different manager who knows what he’s doing and with the players we’ve had over the last 5 years we would have won at least one of those finals if not both.
I agree with the general criticism of Southgate, but I disagree that another manager (and certainly another English manager) would have won either of the two finals. I think we still tend to overestimate our players and that there are still huge gaps in tactical understanding between our players and a lot of other nations' players. We've caught up in technical ability in the last 10 years but still lack some tactical nowse. The example of how our press and defence broke down for the first goal is a prime example. Between Bellingham and Shaw (and Rice) we showed an inability to adjust. Bellingham affects nothing from that position and Shaw doesn't have to jump out to the wide player leaving his man since at that point he's not the primary threat. That let's Jamal in behind and then it's a just a scramble to get across leaving the right side open as described in the vid.
@@matthewdobson100the England players have won tournaments at youth level & have shown they are very technically proficient. I do think Southgate isn’t the best coach, but at the same time he has won more knock-out matches than any previous England manager. It’s like 2 things can be true: Southgate is the most successful England manager & England need a better manager to win tournaments.
@@johnferguson4869 yeah, I don't disagree with any of that.
Every single England fan in every single game was screaming at their TV that we couldn’t play Kane, Foden & Bellingham together. Its another Euro final where the best & most attacking squad in the tournament has been held back by one of the worst & most defensive managers. Again. 🙄😤
Too simplistic. Your looking at it from one side. Spain are technically better players. They play fluid creative football. England looked like plonkers by comparison
@@JMD166yeah, because the tactics were shit. England beat Spain in the euro u21s last year. It’s not just about technical players, it’s playing a system that works. Like the successful u21s, u19s and u17s have, yet for some reason Southgate has spurned simply to play all the big name players.
@@JMD166Spain are not a perfect team by any means though and we have attacking players that can’t hurt them given the right opportunities. This wasn’t like watching 1st v 3rd though. It was like watching 1st v bottom 5 in the premier league. They were our tactics.
Idk, de la Fuente did quite well with the best & most attacking squad in the tournament.
Didn't England beat Spain in the under 21s Euro.
England's next manger
The way you explain things is brilliant
I think Guehi's positional awareness in particular was very poor for the first goal - he pirouettes trying to cover a run by Morata that's already been covered by Stones, I think if he just closes down Yamal he almost certainly stops the pass from being played. Also I don't think Shaw needed to cover Carvajal at all - he's out wide, pretty close to the half way line and not an immediately threat. The only reason Carvajal place the first time ball is because Shaw has been drawn out of position.
Guehi was partly responsible for Spain second goal. Slowed down to jog, ball watching. Didn’t track runner on his outside. When he realised, it was too late. Sprinted to catch up but no good. Oyarzabal had gone ahead of him.
I'm not sure I agree about Guehi trying to cover Morata, I think he's pretty focused on Yamal. but do agree about Shaw, I have said elsewhere that the breakdown came on the left (originally with the pass going to Carvajal bypassing the entire midfield) and then the Shaw decision is probably the critical one, there's no real threat when Carvajal gets the ball. after that they're scrambling and I think there's a general breakdown in communication as each player makes individual decisions which seem fine in isolation (Guehi has to come out to Yamal, Stones has to go with Morata, Walker has to pick up Olmo) but result in Williams being free coming in on the right. Rice is perhaps the one who could have shifted his tracking back to take Olmo from Walker (instead of ending up trippling up on Yamal) to allow him to get back across to Williams earlier. But Rice had make up a lot of ground to get back already.
I hope that some of the English fans will stop hating on Bellingham... The lad just turned 21, after a very long season while being injured at the shoulder and gave its absolute maximum in each match. He had a big impact with his moments of genius over the tournament but like other great player such as Foden the system simply didn't allow him to shine as much as some "require" him to not be critized...
Hate that he was shoehorned into a left winger because Southgate couldn’t decide who to play as the 10
It’s no surprise why these players had awful tournaments
I suspect he’s become an ego within the England camp.
I think everyone in the UK only blame Southgate and Kane.
@@georgeh4171No one in the UK cares except England
Who's hating on Bellingham? He wasn't playing as well as he could've, but he wasn't an active detriment to the team like Kane
Great analysis, thanks for this, really enjoyed it and bought the magazine today as a result 👍
I have been saying for a long while that there's a space for intelligent, thoughtful and considered tactical analysis as the level that the mainstream operate on is woeful. This channel fills that space and has made watching the games a far more enjoyable experience as my own tactical understanding of the game is improving. I actually watched the two Spain goals back a few times to try to see how they had been caused and even though I saw some of the points raised in this tactical analysis, I missed some of them. Throughout the tournament the insight has been first-class. I look forward to watching more in the future. Thanks
This man should be England's manager, or at least assistant manager. Alight, manager maybe that's a bit much, but assistant manager 100% not kidding. This man knows tactics better than Gareth Southgate for sure.