- Alan Shearer has made one change for England ahead of the European Championship final
- He dismissed Gary Lineker’s warning about how Spain could damage England
- Listen to It’s all about to begin! EUROS DAILY: What moment changed the European Championship for England?
Alan Shearer has named his England squad for the 2024 European Championship finals with one surprising change.
England are preparing for their second consecutive European Championship final and will be hoping for better luck against Spain than they had against Italy in 2021.
However, Gary Lineker has identified one area where Spain could really hurt England depending on how Gareth Southgate approaches the game.
The Three Lions appear to have become a better team since switching to three centre-backs and two wing-backs in the quarter-final against Switzerland.
Shearer said The rest is football that he thinks Southgate ‘will probably play with the same formation’ – and then revealed what change he thinks the England manager will make.
Gary Lineker thinks Gareth Southgate will sign Luke Shaw instead of Kieran Trippier
Gary Lineker worries Spanish wingers could abuse a system with tall wingbacks
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he brought Luke Shaw in from the start and then kept everything the same,” he said.
Replacing Kieran Trippier with Shaw from the start would be a big decision, with the Manchester United left-back having not started since February due to injury, although he has played well against Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Lineker warned that the two Spanish wingers, Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, could cause chaos if Bukayo Saka and Shaw aimed too high.
‘I think it could be more difficult against Spain, whether Spain play the two wingers, whether they trap England’s two wins-backs deeper than usual and whether we take the chance to play high and the chance to let them go. It will be a bit of a bluff and a double bluff,’ he said.
Shearer disagreed and believes the England formation can suppress their wingers, saying: ‘That’s a huge strength in what they have in Yamal and Williams on either side. Yamal likes to come inside on his left foot, that’s what we want to do, there’s not many times when he goes outside on the right.
‘So if that’s going to happen, and you’re going to play with three men at the back, which I think he will, then he should be able to cope with the crowd, which will hopefully work out in England’s favour.’
Southgate’s men will face a tough challenge against the best team at Euro 2024.
Shaw has not started in the first team since February due to injury, but has made two substitute appearances at Euro 2024
Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams are two of Spain’s biggest stars at the European Championship
Spain have won all six of their matches under Luis de la Fuente, becoming the first team to win so many matches at a European Championship.
England will have the task of overcoming the demons of the Euro 2020 final, having beaten Italy but eventually losing on penalties.
They did this partly by winning the quarterfinals against Switzerland after a shoot-out. The previous match against the Netherlands, the team seemed to play a lot better.
“We give people great nights. We’ve given our supporters some of the best nights of the last 50 years. I’m immensely proud of that,” Southgate said.
“I’m happy if everyone at home feels the same as us and the people in the stadium. But we’re not done yet.
“We have to prepare ourselves for the biggest test possible. We came here to try and win the tournament and that is still our goal.”