Luke Shaw proves a disastrous decision as Kieran Trippier dropped | OneFootball

Just the one change for Gareth Southgate, Luke Shaw replacing Kieran Trippier for the 2024 European Championships final.

The decision proved an absolute disaster.

Luke Shaw actually did alright in the first half against Spain.

There again, when you are playing in a tactical set-up that has next to no plans to cross the halfway line, never mind create chances and scoring goals, it massively helps any defender when all of his teammates are playing so deep and gifting possession and territorial advantage to the opposition.

It was very clear from the match kicking off, that Gareth Southgate had set things up in the hope of boring everybody to death, playing 120+ minutes with hopefully no goals or anything interesting at all happening, with the genius plan of solely trying to win on penalties.

Sadly though, the Luke Shaw decision saw all of our tactical genius’ plans crumble.

A minute into the second-half and Luke Shaw was disastrously caught ball-watching, the Man U defender with eyes only for Bellingham going towards Carvajal to close him down, totally forgetting about the player he should have been concentrating on. Yamal drifted in behind Luke Shaw and when Carvajal flicked the ball behind Shaw, the left-back left in no-man’s land as Yamal was onto it, and one pass later it was Williams putting Spain on their way to victory.

That set the pattern, Luke Shaw generally looked ok but at key moments fell asleep. Caught badly out of position not long afterwards when Yamal allowed the freedom to shoot at the England goal and Pickford made a quality save.

I think to be honest, the Harry Kane and Luke Shaw selections perfectly sum up how clueless Gareth Southgate is. Selecting a striker who won’t/can’t run around when you are playing such boring negative tactics with your team so deep, yet pick a striker like Kane who then gives you absolutely no out ball by running into the channels, so you are constantly defending.

You have Kieran Trippier who has started all six matches that took England to the final. The Newcastle United defender had done a superb defensive job, with almost all the defensive problems England had experienced in those six games, coming down England’s right side of the pitch. You (Southgate) are intent on just trying to defend in this final and yet you drop the player who along with Stones has been England’s best defender. This was easily England’s toughest match after the usual Southgate incredible luck in the draw had seen poor to average opposition, Yamal a real livewire but a big thing in Trippier’s favour is that as a right-footed left-back, he is perfectly suited to play against a left-footed winger such as the 17-year-old, who always wants to cut in from the right.

So of course, Gareth Southgate drops one of his most reliable best-performing players of the tournament and brings in Luke Shaw, who hasn’t started a game for England in 13 months and hasn’t started any game of football at all for five months. Remember, this is the final! Plus of course, Luke Shaw is at a disadvantage as a left-footed left-back, when it comes to Yamal almost always cutting inside from the right on his left foot.

I don’t blame Luke Shaw, he did his best, but if Southgate had picked Kieran Trippier, then there is no way that opening goal is happening. It had been so long since Luke Shaw had started any football match of any description, no wonder he fell asleep and allowed Yamal the easiest of routes behind him to set up the opening goal, as well as on other occasions (on the match highlights below, go to 0.51 for that opening goal/Shaw blunder if you don’t believe me, also 2.59 on the highlights when Pickford saved that one from Yamal and saved Shaw’s blushes).

I find it astonishing and hilarious, that Gareth Southgate is prepared to make such big calls at the back, yet refuses to do so at the other end of the pitch. As well as this disaster of replacing Trippier with Luke Shaw, Gareth Southgate made a massive call previously when with Guehi suspended we saw Konsa come in and play so well, yet Southgate prepared to still bring Guehi straight back in for the semi-final against Holland.

Yet at the other end, Harry Kane has been woeful all through the tournament but Southgate refusing to drop him and bring some much-needed pace and movement through Watkins. The same with refusing to play Palmer, even though clearly he should have been starting.

I find it incredible that so many people praise Southgate for his substitutions throughout the tournament, the likes of Watkins and Palmer coming on and each time making England look so much better and dangerous in the short time they have been allowed on the pitch, as seen on the equaliser against Spain. Surely everybody should have been asking, if Watkins and Palmer (and Gordon with his one 89th-minute sub appearance…) were allowed to start, how much better and more dangerous might England have been match after match?

We’ll never know what might have been, if Southgate had approached this tournament with the intention of attacking, of putting the best and most mobile players on the pitch to allow England to make as many chances as possible in an attacking formation.

What we do know is that having committed to boring everybody throughout this tournament, with only off-script rare moments from individuals such as Bellingham and Saka to break the monotony, at the final stage of trying to crawl through to a 0-0 and hope to win the final on penalties, Gareth Southgate then makes that disastrous decision to replace the super reliable defensive option of Kieran Trippier, with Luke Shaw who hadn’t started a game of football since February and who cost England.