There we have it.
The 2024 UEFA European Championship has come to a close, with Spain emerging as the eventual victor.
They have impressed many fans and pundits alike with their dazzling performances throughout the competition, and several players have boosted their stock thanks to stellar performances.
Luis de la Fuente‘s Spain had to overcome England to claim their record-breaking fourth European trophy.
Despite reaching a second consecutive EURO final, many England fans were still unhappy with the level of performance from Gareth Southgate’s side, with specific individuals facing criticism for not stepping up when it mattered.
This UEFA Euro Final 2024 tactical analysis looks at how Spain were able to defeat England, with the analysis dissecting England’s defensive issues; and how the Spanish exploited that.
We will also discuss the contrast in attacking tactics between the two sides and how it shaped the whole game.
England haunted by defensive downfall
Going into the tournament, there were questions about England’s defensive unit.
The absence of Harry Maguire has ultimately hurt England due to his aerial ability and qualities in possession.
However, a significant portion of England’s defensive issues against Spain stemmed from two key areas: defending the right flank and various problems in midfield, which will be addressed in the following analysis.
Tactical imbalance has been a constant theme in England’s journey this summer, but most of the talking points around that theme have been about England’s in-possession struggles.
Until the final, England’s defence has looked trustworthy enough – a few moments of weakness at the back, but every team has those.
However, when England faced a more cohesive team in Spain, that tactical imbalance was also visible in their defence.
Manchester City defender Kyle Walker has been highlighted for his involvement in England’s conceded goals on more than one occasion in this competition.
Still, Spain’s opener in the final was not a result of poor defending from Walker.
The aforementioned tactical imbalance is in England’s midfield – Declan Rice and Kobbie Mainoo showed no defensive cohesion.
The move started with a piece of quality from Spain as Real Madrid legend Dani Carvajal executed a brilliant first-touch pass into Yamal, with the wunderkind collecting the ball easily before looking to drive at England.
Now, Rice, sensing the potential danger here, shifted over to England’s left side of the pitch to offer defensive assistance against Spain’s attack there – the issue was that Mainoo did not come across or drop in to cover Rice, leaving Fabiån Ruiz the space inside to make a dangerous run.
That dangerous run is what Kyle Walker opted to try and combat, which, in turn, left Nico Williams all alone at the back post – this was smart play Ruiz, but poor from an England perspective.
Walker’s decision-making can be questioned – had he opted to mark Williams instead, it could be argued that Stones would have closed Ruiz down in time had Yamal passed to him.
But if Walker did leave Ruiz free and he went on to score, the City defender would’ve found himself in the firing line anyway.
It quickly became apparent that the England coaching team did not identify the imbalance and lack of cohesion between Rice and Mainoo; if they had, they would have struggled to patch things up.
This example shows Yamal, who demonstrated great awareness of drifting inside and capitalising on the space left by Rice.
The West Ham midfielder had shifted over to England’s right to try and execute a press over on that side, but Spain evaded such danger and quickly moved the ball across the pitch.
At that moment, either Rice had to communicate to Mainoo that the Manchester United midfielder should press himself, or when Rice did go, Mainoo should have swapped positions with Rice to cover for him.
Neither of those things happened, which allowed Yamal to drift into that open pocket and receive the ball – he gave England another example of why you can’t enable high-quality players that kind of space, as he instantly looked to drive forward before playing a through ball into the path of Álvaro Morata.
There is also a question of Bellingham’s engagement in this example.
In the top image, he can be seen pointing to Yamal, along with Luke Shaw.
As the closest to Yamal in a midfield area, he should have shifted inside to mark the youngster and let Luke Shaw look after Carvajal out wide.
We saw elements from both of the discussed examples in Spain’s winning goal as well – a failure to defend effectively in midfield and poor reaction in the defensive third in key moments.
Spain’s liquid attacking style
Spain scored an impressive 14 goals in this tournament, with individual attacking brilliance playing a huge part in their success.
The likes of Dani Olmo, Fabián Ruiz, Nico Williams, and teenage sensation Lamine Yamal all played pivotal parts for Spain throughout the entire competition, and the final was no different.
While England’s defending was not at its best, Spain still had to be on their game to unlock the defence.
From clever off-the-ball movements to overloads in wide areas, Spain demonstrated why many neutral fans believed they would cause England problems.
Nico Williams has been fantastic for Spain in this tournament, and he was also a constant threat in the final – a key part of Spain’s attacking tactics.
As you can see from the analysis image above, he often linked up well with Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella.
On this occasion, Williams had drifted inside to receive the ball from a teammate in a deeper area, creating space for Cucurella out wide, and England struggled to adapt to this quickly.
Even before Williams and Cucurella were involved in this particular move, we saw a Spain player dribble the ball out of defence and into England’s midfield with ease – something we saw on numerous occasions in this game.
There’s been a lot of talk surrounding Harry Kane and his tendency to drop deep, with many fans citing this as part of England’s attacking problems.
While Kane’s deeper presence can have its benefits at times, his execution of dropping into a pocket of space to link up with the midfield has not been effective or consistent enough this summer.
Morata, on the other hand, has done that very well, and we saw it in the final as well.
These are small, intricate moments and details, but it is those details that make a huge difference in big games like this one.
Just a mere second before the image above, Morata was on the shoulder of John Stones but timed his movement into that pocket excellently.
Not a single England shirt reacted quickly enough, and the ball found its way into the striker, who promptly bounced the ball off to nearby midfield support, allowing Spain to launch a dangerous attack down the right flank.
This type of movement from Morata provided another attacking dimension to Spain’s tactics.
We touched on Spain’s ability to be effective in various ways in attack, and hurting teams in attacking transitions is another way they do that.
This Spain team has plenty of pace, thanks to the likes of Williams and Yamal.
Still, they also have fast-thinking players – those who can execute the next pass quickly without overthinking it, which is precisely what we saw from Morata as he received the ball from Williams.
A perfectly weighted, first-touch bounce pass into Ruiz, who, similarly to Morata, knew exactly where his next pass was going – straight into the path of Yamal.
This transitional attack from Spain showcased much of what is great about their tactics in just a few quick seconds, and really, England were lucky not to concede from this moment.
England’s attack – a costly lack of movement in midfield
In the buildup to the Euros, there was a real buzz of excitement among England fans about this team, particularly the midfield and attacking units.
Several star names were expected to take England to new heights in an international setting, but nearly all of them have fallen short of expectations by quite some distance.
England’s in-possession play as a whole has felt relatively flat throughout the entire tournament, and a large part of that is down to a lack of movement in central midfield areas, causing a disconnect between the defence and midfield/attack.
Now, we aren’t here to single out any individuals or assign blame for England’s defeat, but in big games like this, many expected high-quality players like Foden and Bellingham to be key players; however, that was not the case over the 90 minutes.
We’ll provide an analysis of their positioning and movement shortly, but the visual above offers some insight into their involvement in possession.
While their position on paper depended on whether England played a 3-4-2-1 or a 4-2-3-1 formation, they should have been key players in linking up play between the thirds.
However, as shown in the image above, they hardly touched the ball in central midfield areas.
This image shows us what we can expect from Southgate and England fans, who have wanted a wide presence on both flanks throughout the tournament.
Luke Shaw’s introduction did provide some of that missing balance on the left flank, but in scenarios like the one above, England failed to get the wide players involved enough.
If you think to yourself, how can England get the ball from Jordan Pickford into midfield to then break into Spain’s half, you would surely assume that the movement has to come from centre midfield – Foden and Bellingham in this case, given Spain’s high press on England’s backline.
All it would take, from either Foden or Bellingham, is a quick drift into the highlighted area to provide a direct option for Pickford, where they would then have the opportunity to drive forward or play a quick pass out to Luke Shaw.
Some may suggest that Declan Rice also shoulders the responsibility of moving into space to receive from Pickford.
Still, on more than one occasion in this competition, he has struggled to receive the ball in those areas while facing his own goal.
If Rice made that move and Pickford found him, England run the risk of Spain pressing Rice and being left exposed without his defensive presence.
Due to the lack of movement, this move made absolutely no use of the shape or setup from England, and it ended with Pickford just going long and handing possession to Spain.
We conclude with another example of England having a genuine chance to build up in midfield but lacking the movement to do so, which resulted in England going backwards yet again.
Earlier, we spoke of small details making a big difference, and here we have another example of that or what could have been.
Walker, on the ball, is clearly looking for a way to get England further forward but is receiving very little support.
The space is there, as highlighted – all it would’ve taken is either Mainoo drifting three yards to reach that space or Foden getting the drop on Rodri and quickly dropping in deep himself.
England would have bypassed four Spanish players and had a good chance of progressing possession quickly.
Aside from the lack of midfield movement, you could even argue that Stones had the chance to help Walker out.
By dropping deeper, Stones would have either become a passing option for Walker or, if the Spain player followed and marked Stones, that would have opened up more space in the midfield area for England to play in.
Conclusion
You’d do well to find anybody who doesn’t think Spain are deserved European Champions.
They’ve been outstanding to watch and horrible to play against, winning all six of their games in this competition.
Manager Luis de la Fuente, who has now won the U19 Euros, U21 Euros, Nations League, and senior men’s Euros, deserves credit for his tactical set-up and squad selection.
As for England, some will find positives in reaching yet another major final, while others will be disappointed with the performance levels, both tactically and individually.
