I feel for England but Gareth Southgate gave Spain too much respect in Euro 2024 final, writes DANNY MURPHY... he should NOT have changed formation

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I feel for England because you could see the effort they put in but Gareth Southgate's change of formation gave Spain too much respect and diminished our ability to hurt them.

Southgate ditched the wing-backs - that had produced our best performances of the tournament against Switzerland and Netherlands - because Spain were the best team in the tournament and he felt it was the best way to cope. But it stopped the momentum our lads had built up from the semi-final.

Reverting back to a 4-2-3-1 was a sign we worried more about Spain than handing them difficulties.

Going to a back-four didn't harm us defensively, we were still solid, but it did prevent us from creating. We were too rigid and predictable.

Kobbie Mainoo had less freedom to roam and find pockets of space. Jude Bellingham had to operate primarily on the left-hand side which he doesn't particularly like.

Gareth Southgate gave Spain too much respect in changing his formation in the Euro 2024 final on Sunday

It seemed England were more worried about handling Spain than providing their own threat

The change didn't harm us defensively but it limited us going forward and prevent us from creating on the ball

It was the interchanging between Mainoo, Phil Foden and Bellingham I liked against the Dutch. We had a lot less of that in the final even with the caveat of Spain being a superior team.

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England were dignified to the end in their Euro 2024 final defeat by Spain, writes OLIVER HOLT

Allowing Spain to take the initiative backfired despite Rodri having to withdraw at half-time. They continued to control the game.

When Dani Olmo missed a chance at 1-0 and Jordan Pickford saved from Lamine Yamal, we were hanging on.

Credit to Southgate and the players, once again they showed tremendous resolve and the manager's substitutions were spot-on.

Cole Palmer deserved his big moment with the equaliser and even at 2-1, the side were totally committed and could have equalised with that mad late flurry.

Johns Stones (left) and Marc Guehi (right) were both outstanding for England out in Germany

John Stones and Marc Guehi were both outstanding. It's ironic that the worries before the Euros were defensively. As it turns out, that was the part of our team that worked best.

England really put so much into it. They came so close. It's easy to talk in hindsight, maybe if we'd kept the wing-backs, we'd have been beaten anyway. But I do feel we blinked first and it's cost us.