David James has dismissed claims Gareth Southgate made a mistake starting Harry Kane in the Euro 2024 final and insists there is ‘no need’ to replace the England manager despite more tournament heartbreak.
England became the first nation to suffer consecutive European Championship final defeats when they were beaten 2-1 by Spain in Berlin on Sunday.
It was another difficult night for Three Lions captain Kane, who has not looked himself at the Euros and had just 13 touches of the ball before being subbed off on the hour mark.
Following the painful defeat, Southgate admitted Kane did not get to the level he was hoping during the tournament despite scoring three goals and finishing as the joint-top goalscorer.
But ex-England goalkeeper James has defended Southgate’s decision to start Kane at the Olympic Stadium and says there is no guarantee the team would have functioned better with Ollie Watkins up top.
There were calls for the Aston Villa striker to start against Spain after his stunning semi-final winner against the Netherlands but Southgate kept faith in his captain and the country’s all-time record goalscorer.
Asked if the decision was a mistake, James told Metro.co.uk on behalf of Best Online Poker Sites: ‘No – because when you look at the first half, it worked.
‘It’s not that we were creating chance after chance, but we were nullifying the most dangerous team in these Euros – the team that had the most shots and scored the most goals in the end.
‘However, because Spain made that change at half time, the requirements of the team became different. Then there was the chance for Harry to come off, which he did after 60 minutes, and we got back into the game.
‘How our team was set up was for a specific purpose that was working. Had we had Ollie Watkins instead of Harry Kane then who knows what might have happened?
‘The only question was the timing of the substitution given that the game had changed so quickly in that second half, but we put ourselves within four minutes of going to extra time and Harry was on the pitch for 60 minutes of that.
‘Ollie Watkins did make a difference but the best team found a way, because that’s what the best team do.’
Southgate said ‘now is not the time’ to make a decision over his England future after suffering back-to-back European Championship finals defeats.
The 53-year-old, who has been in charge since 2016, will be out of contract at the end of the year but the FA want him to sign a new deal and take England to the 2026 World Cup.
Former England strikers Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker believe Southgate will step down after eight years in the job but James wants him to continue.
‘I would prefer if he stayed,’ the ex-Liverpool, Portsmouth, West Ham, Aston Villa and Manchester City star said.
‘We’re looking at a manager who if you ask what his credentials are, he’ll say, “I can get you to the quarter finals minimum of major tournaments, and quite often I’ll get you into finals”, and that’s basically what people would be asking his replacement to do when he’s already doing it.
‘You can look at an individual game like last night and say, “we should have done this or that”, but it ignores the fact that Spain were so good.
‘The hope is that with Gareth in charge for the next World Cup, could we get ourselves into a similar position and, however it is achieved, that we have the opportunities for our players to do the things to win it, rather than looking at the opposition being as good as they are.
‘I don’t think there is a need to replace him – ultimately it’s going to be his decision of course, but if he’s deciding to stay then I’m 100% behind him.’
England’s final defeat was not particularly surprising as Southgate’s side struggled for fluency throughout the tournament and came up against the standout team in Spain.
What did Gareth Southgate say about his future?
‘Now is not the time for me to speak about that. I need to talk to the right people and give myself a bit of time.
‘To get to another final… it was a privilege to have the opportunity. But to come up short is hard at the moment.
‘Of course to take England to two finals has never been done but we came here to win and we haven’t been able to do that.
‘England have some fabulous players. We have been consistently back in the matches that matter. It’s the last step we haven’t been able to do.’
While Luis de la Fuente’s European champions won all seven games during their stint in Germany, England only won one group match before needing extra-time and penalties to beat Slovakia and Switzerland respectively.
‘England came up against the best team in Euros finals history,’ James added. ‘Spain were seven out of seven and everyone knows the numbers, but there’s an old adage that in order to win a title, you need to be the best.
‘People talk about playing someone in the quarter finals or whatever, Spain did it against Germany and people thought that could arguably have been the final.
‘They beat them in that game, then we came up against that Spanish side and gave them a really good go, I thought.
‘In the end, they were just too good. I think in the first half we played exceptionally well, even if it was very controlling and defensive at times – we had to against the opposition that Spain put out.
‘Rodri coming off at half time and Zubimendi coming on completely changed the way Spain played, because he played he played in a slightly different role.
‘For a few minutes we didn’t really get a grip of it and they scored the first goal. I think you just have to credit Spain for being such a good team.
‘It’s frustrating for England, but I think everyone tried the best they could, and it just wasn’t good enough.’
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