Gary Lineker has revealed England players are 'understanding' of the criticism they've received at Euro 2024 following their 2-1 defeat to Spain on Sunday night.
The Three Lions lost 2-1 in Berlin, with Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal scoring to break England hearts.
Lineker was outspoken in his criticism of the team during the past month, with the 63-year-old courting controversy in the process.
But the 63-year-old, speaking on his Rest is Football podcast, has claimed members of Gareth Southgate's squad are 'understanding' of the comments aimed their way.
Gary Lineker has revealed England players are 'understanding' of the criticism they've received at Euro 2024 following their 2-1 defeat to Spain on Sunday night.
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“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 had received]," he said.
“They were disappointed and despondent — I won’t name any names because it’s not fair — but 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.”
While Lineker did toe the line at times, he was often right about England.
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They never really got going at the tournament and, barring 45 minutes against the Netherlands, failed to show their best form.
Lineker feels Southgate has done well during his time as England manager.
But he thinks the Three Lions would be wise to move on from the 53-year-old and appoint a more attack-minded manager instead.
"I think he was the right man at the right time," he said.
"But I think this emergence of young, exciting forward thinking footballers that play high-pressing football for their clubs and I think that's probably not suited him and he's not suited them and they looked a little bit lost and they were disjointed."
Southgate, meanwhile, has opened up after the defeat.
And the England boss has admitted they struggled to get individuals to operate at the peak of their powers over the past month.
"There's no hiding we've had some issues coming into the tournament, we've managed to deal with most of them and got Luke [Shaw] out tonight, but we've just fallen short in the end," he said.
"It's probably both [a success and missed opportunity], frankly.
"The players have got to take enormous credit to get us to the point we did, but when you get as close as that you've got to take your chances.
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Gary Lineker was critical of England players at Euro 2024 before their defeat to Spain in Sunday's final
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"The character, the resilience they've shown, I just think tonight we didn't keep the ball well enough. They had more control of the game and that was probably the main difference. I just think against Spain, they press well, you have to keep the ball when you win it back.
"Defensively we were fine in the first half, you just have to retain the ball a little bit better. In the end, maybe that's the bit that takes a little bit out."
He added: "So many of our players came into the camp having missed the end of the season, we've managed to get Luke through 90 minutes when he hasn't played for four months.
"We've had Kobbie as a young player who's done incredibly well, but the amount of football he's had this year.... Jude, we were about to take off because he was cramping as well.
"We had a decent period and got the equaliser, but I think the physical toll of the issues we came into the tournament with, the extra-time periods, having as little of the ball as we did tonight ultimately took a big toll and I think that was part of the reason why legs started to go and you start to make mistakes.
England boss Gareth Southgate was left disappointed after his side's defeat to Spain in Sunday's Euro 2024 final
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"That physical toll was definitely an issue for us with others in the group as well. Of course, that's exacerbated when you don't keep the ball earlier in the game.
"There was a lot stacked against us, with having a day less to recover from the previous game and the extra time periods we did, but we have to hold our hands up - Spain were better."
