08:05
Sunday | April 20
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England were once again left heartbroken for the second Euros Final in a row as Spain won 2-1 thanks to a late goal from Oyarzabal.

It is extremely tough with hopes high after Gareth Southgate took England to a second Euros Final in a row.

Spain were the standout team of the tournament and were also in the toughest half of the draw, and in fairness they deserved to win after dominating long spells of the final despite scoring very late to take the trophy.

Too Negative

Gareth Southgate deserves credit for his record of taking England to the latter stages of numerous competitions, but with the array of talent at his disposal, you can’t help but think he isn’t getting the best out of his players.

When England lost the final at Wembley 3 years ago, they had a tremendous chance to win the Euros after taking the lead against Italy, but instead of going for the jugular and a second goal, England seemed to sit back and allow Italy to grow into the game, before they equalised, and eventually ran out winners after winning the penalty shoot-out.

England have been spoiled for choice with talented players throughout the years, and far too often some of those players have not been used enough.

Players like Matt Le Tissier, Glenn Hoddle are a couple that come to mind, but far too often England managers have selected more workmanlike players instead.

Trent

Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold is the latest talented player to be left frustrated, after mostly sitting on the bench as he watched his countrymen get to another Euros Final.

The Reds’ star was only used for the last 5 minutes, in the penalty shootout win over Switzerland, and also scored the winning penalty to take England through to the semifinal against the Netherlands.

The Liverpool defender gets so much criticism for his defending, but really the criticism is vastly unfair and what he offers going forward with his vision and passing ability outweighs his defensive frailties.

If Alexander-Arnold made the defensive mistakes Kyle Walker made in the two goals conceded against Spain, he would be publicly slaughtered by the so-called experts.

But nothing will be said about Walker because he has pace to burn.

It just seems so frustrating to see such a talented player sit so long on the bench as England just fell short once again.

Will Southgate finally realise what Trent can do for England? The way Jurgen Klopp used him at Liverpool?