will make one big change to his starting XI for the final against Spain, has predicted.
The Three Lions boss has resisted making too many alterations to his line-up throughout the tournament, despite heavy external pressure to do so.
In terms of personnel there have only been three changes: replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield with and then Kobbie Mainoo, and Ezri Konsa coming in for the suspended Marc Guehi in the quarter-finals.
While they’ve not been perfect, the formula has put England into the final with their performance against the Netherlands in the semi-finals .
Nevertheless, Shearer says he ‘would not be surprised’ if Southgate made one change for the final in Berlin on Sunday, based on what he saw against the Dutch.
‘There were two or three occasions where got down the left-hand side and the ball could have come in early,’ the former England captain and striker said on .
‘And it didn’t come in, it came back into the middle and the right-hand side and slowed it down. Nothing against him defensively but in attacking positions he didn’t get into them and make the most of them.
‘That’s why he [Southgate] brought on and I thought that was the right thing to do. It went to a three, then a four, a five at times. They played everything at times in that second half.
‘I think in terms of the formation [for the final], I think he’ll go with the same and it wouldn’t surprise me if he went with Luke Shaw from the start and kept everything else the same.’
As Shearer mentioned, Shaw came on at half-time for Trippier after the right-back had once again struggled at left-wingback, looking solid defensively but blunt offensively.
Shaw, the only left-back in the squad, returned from injury in the quarter-finals and the team have looked more cohesive when he’s played but it would be a big call to start him after playing just 87 minutes at the tournament – his only game time since February.
Another call for Southgate to make is whether to retain the 3-4-3 formation that has worked so well in the last two games or revert back to the 4-2-3-1 used at the beginning of the Euros.
Euro 2024 final
The former seems the obvious choice, and Shearer believes it can be used to great affect against the Spanish, adding: ‘That is a huge strength in what they’ve got in [Lamine] Yamal and [Nico] Williams on either wing.
‘Yamal loves to come inside on his left foot, that’s what he wants to do. There are not many times where he goes on the outside on the right.
‘So if that’s going to happen, and you are going to play to play three at the back which I think he may do, he should run into traffic which hopefully might work to England’s benefit.’
