‘You could tell he wasn’t happy at all’
Alan Shearer highlighted the England star who ‘wasn’t happy at all’ with manager Gareth Southgate as the team lost 2-1 to Spain in the Euro 2024 final.
Nico Williams put the Spanish in front after halftime. Substitute Cole Palmer equalised three minutes after coming on with a long-range strike. Mikel Oyarzabal, however, restored Spain’s lead late on.
Jude Bellingham was visibly annoyed at the full-time whistle as he was seen kicking over a cool box.
Shearer has put this outburst down to Bellingham being frustrated by Southgate’s tactics.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Shearer said: “Bellingham wasn’t happy. He was stuck on the left again. You could tell he wasn’t happy at all.
“He had a disappointed look about him, his arms were up, and he was looking towards the bench for guidance,” he continued.
“He could see things weren’t going well and he wasn’t happy with the lack of press and everything else.
“He was showing all those emotions. I could see it; I was looking at him all the time.
“He was showing it to the bench. He’s not a left midfielder is he so I sort of understood his emotions.
“I was really surprised Gareth Southgate went back to four at the back.”
Shearer went on to say that the better team won in Berlin and was surprised by the way Southgate set up his team heading into the clash with Spain.
“Our best 45 minutes of football in the whole tournament was when we played three at the back in the first half against the Netherlands.
“I thought he would go for that system again. It’s clear that [Phil] Foden and Bellingham don’t want to play on the left in that system.”
Gary Lineker also commented that several players looked frustrated with Southgate throughout the tournament, not just against Spain.
He said: “When we walked off the pitch today we bumped into quite a few of the England players and they were all absolutely understanding [of the criticism they have received]. You could tell they weren’t happy with perhaps the way things went.
“The only times we saw England play attacking, aggressive football is when they’ve been behind, with the exception perhaps of two first-halves. But mostly they were sitting back and even at 1-1 tonight they started sitting again.”
