England had Spain on the ropes but we let them win – I can’t take much more

It’s happened again. It keeps on happening. When is this going to end? Or is it never-ending For England? 

I’m absolutely gutted, devastated, that we have lost another final, but I can’t help but think we had it in our hands against Spain.

I’m fuming inside about this, raging about it. It was there for the taking. We’ve gone one down, come back into it and then we’ve gone and let them win it. They haven’t really won it themselves, we’ve let them win it, we’ve let them off the hook. 

Everybody should be raging about it. Everybody should be asking questions about it.

I want to know if it was the players, or was it Gareth Southgate? They got on the front foot, they caused all sorts of problems and Spain were there for the taking. We were tearing them apart, but then we’ve gone and sat back.

It’s like they thought, ‘Well we’re both happy with extra time’, but the Spanish weren’t – they’ve gone for the winner and got it!

That is England in a nutshell. We had Italy on the ropes in the last final and we let them win. We had Spain on the ropes and we let them win. That is this England.

You could talk about a brave run, you could talk about big moments – and there have been some massive ones, they’ve been brilliant, enjoyed them all, unforgettable – but in the end, we’ve let Spain win this Euro final when we had them on the ropes. 

There has been so much to love about Gareth Southgate’s era, no question about it. From where we were in 2016, an utter shambles, a humiliation, an embarrassment, he’s picked us up, taken us right up there, gone deep in tournaments, two finals, all sorts of semis and he’s got a really good squad together.

But they’ve let this final slip through their hands. It was there for them. Gutted, absolutely gutted, and now we’ve got to go through the trophy lift. We’ve got to watch a load of Spanish players lift the trophy that England players should be lifting. 

There’s gonna be some scrutiny about that in-game management from Gareth Southgate, no doubt about it.

I think one of the telling things was he was going to bring Conor Gallagher on, Spain score, so he keeps Gallagher on the bench. Why are you bringing on a bustling midfielder? Why don’t you go and win the game? That will be the question. 

When Ollie Watkins comes on he starts causing the problems, Cole Palmer comes on and they can’t handle him. He scores a beauty and then we sit back again!

I’d love to know if that was the management’s instruction or if it was just the players, but we sat back again. It’s like we wanted a 1-1, wanted extra-time, wanted penalties. 

We’re been banging on about our subs all tournament, and who goes and wins it? A Spanish sub! England fans were booing Cucurella all night, and then he goes and sets up the winner. 

There’s so much to be unhappy about with this. There are devastated faces out on the pitch But they’re all going to have to look at themselves. You know this lot, these starters and these subs for England, they shouldn’t be underdogs, they shouldn’t be playing this badly in a tournament. They should be playing better.

Jude Bellingham, tonight, he should be playing better. He’s one of the world’s best players, he’s got a Ballon d’Or waiting for him, but he did virtually nothing tonight of any note. A couple of little passes, a couple of little moves here and there, but he’s got to be playing better!

Spain have been the best team at the tournament, they’ve won all their games and quite frankly tonight, here in Berlin, the best team won. That’s what you can say, that’s how you sum it up. The best team won, and England only gave themselves a chance of winning when they brought subs on.

But I’m not sure anyone who is English and who has been around for a long time can take this sort of thing much more. Yes, things are better than they were but come on, go for it! With the players you’ve got on the pitch, go for it!

Spain were creaking, they were falling apart at the seams. Just go for it, go for the kill! They thought they’d won it, we equalised, we’re on top, but we’ve let them win.

Maybe it’s a bit of emotion talking, because the best team did win in the end. Spain had 66 per cent possession, they had far more efforts than us, they had more on target than us, they played better than us and, overall, neutral observers would probably say the best team won and you can’t disagree.

But England, oh England – it was yours, and you let it go!