Former Liverpool and Germany midfielder Didi Hamann has slammed England’s performances under Gareth Southgate, blasting the manager’s decisions and saying Harry Kane should be dropped.
England were beaten 2-1 by Spain in the final of Euro 2024 on Sunday night in Berlin, with an 85th minute Mikel Oyarzabal goal the difference between the side.
Luis de la Fuente’s team deserved the victory with England struggling to keep hold of the ball or gain control for any sustained periods of time, especially in the second half.
While a run to the final is a good effort, England scraped their way there, drawing two group stage games then very narrowly beating Slovakia, Switzerland and Netherlands in the knockouts.
England suffer Euro 2024 final heartbreak to Spain – as it happened
It is safe to say that Hamann was not impressed with how they played and was baffled by how much time Kane spent on the pitch despite contributing very little.
‘The football was atrocious. Out of the 10 worst games in the tournament, England was responsible for seven,’ the German said on RTE.
‘Why is Kane not moving? I do not know. I don’t care. It is not my problem, they have got a doctor there and a physio.
‘In four games they had been behind. If you had played Watkins, all of a sudden it is dangerous. Imagine England goes ahead in one of the games and you bring [Eberechi] Eze on and [Anthony] Gordon on. If this team is ahead they won’t be pegged back.
‘They have the players on the bench, two or three who will run riot. They never had the chance to show it because he insisted on starting with the same players who weren’t performing. This England team had so much more in the locker.
‘We haven’t seen enough of (Ollie) Watkins. (Harry) Kane shouldn’t have played. He was a disaster for the seven games from start to finish even though he scored three goals.’
Hamann, who reached a World Cup final with Germany in 2002, feels England should not be happy with two European Championship finals under Southgate and should expect better.
‘I don’t want to be too harsh because they have been to two finals but I don’t think it is enough,’ he said.
‘They went into the tournament – like they did three years ago – with the best squad and again they came up short. It has not been good enough.’
In a final attack on Kane, he added: ‘Do you think England fans want to see Kane up top again?
‘If he stays in charge – I think when the sides meet again in three months time – it will be Harry Kane. The punters don’t want to see that anymore.’
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