How we rated the players after England vs Netherlands.
Ollie Watkins’ stunning strike in injury time sent England through to the Euro 2024 final with a 2-1 win over the Netherlands.
The Aston Villa striker made an appearance as a late substitute before firing into the bottom left corner after expertly holding off defender Stefan de Vrij.
Gareth Southgate had earlier one change from the side that defeated Switzerland on penalties in the quarter-final, with Marc Guehi returning from suspension to replace Ezri Konsa.
Crucially, the England boss stuck with the three-defender system from that clash, with Bukayo Saka and Kieran Trippier as wing-backs.
That decision paid dividends in the first half, as the Three Lions produced perhaps their finest half of football under Southgate.
Xavi Simons gave the Netherlands a seventh-minute lead with a superb long-distance strike, but Harry Kane levelled from the penalty spot.
The second half was more of a cagey affair, with the Dutch clawing back some control and limiting England to fewer opportunities. Saka, though, did have a goal ruled out after Kyle Walker was adjudged to be offside.
Then came the moment England fans had been waiting for – Ollie Watkins holding off the defender before producing an inch-perfect effort into the bottom left corner.
HAS OLLIE WATKINS WON IT FOR ENGLAND?! 🏴🏴🏴
ASTON VILLA’S OLLIE WATKINS IS A SUPERSTAR SHOOTER! 🤩🎯#Euro2024 |
#NEDENG pic.twitter.com/67Zpbwg6QQ
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) July 10, 2024
But how did we rate the players? Take a look below.
Jordan Pickford – 6
Some might argue he could have done more for the goal but it was a stunning strike. Did what he needed to do otherwise. Distribution excellent as always.
Kyle Walker – 7
Great block in the first half when Malen threatened England’s goal. Not been his finest tournament but much more like Manchester City’s Kyle Walker tonight.
John Stones – 6
Comfortable on the ball as always. Did his job well when Netherlands forced England back in the second half.
Marc Guehi – 6
Composed performance by the Crystal Palace man on his return to the side. More defensively-minded than Walker in a back three but that’s no bad thing.
Bukayo Saka – 8
Constant threat on the right and almost played as a winger at times. The width of a Walker arm away from scoring England’s second after it was ruled out for offside.
Declan Rice – 6
Dispossessed too easily for the goal. Otherwise mostly safe in possession and looked to break forward when the opportunity presented itself.
Kobbie Mainoo – 8 (POTM)
One of Southgate’s biggest calls was bringing this man into the side. Ultra positive in the first half, drove forward with the ball, created chances. Did his job defensively in the second.
Kieran Trippier – 6
Left foot weakness again held him back in the key moments. A steady performance but substituted for Shaw at half-time, who will doubtless start when fully fit.
Jude Bellingham – 6
Not quite as involved as Foden and Mainoo in the first half but played his role in pushing the Dutch defence back. Quieter after half-time.
Phil Foden – 8
Stunningly quick feet to create his own chance in the first half that was cleared off the line. Kept looking for the space and usually found it, in a central role that he is much more used to. Quieter in the second half as Netherlands began to exert control.
Harry Kane – 6
Won the penalty and converted it – you never expected him to miss from 12 yards. Movement better than we’ve seen this tournament but substituted with 10 minutes to play.
Luke Shaw – 7
Great to see the Manchester United man back fit again. Not many opportunities to create, but he produced a stunning cross to find Watkins late on.
Cole Palmer – 7
Replaced Foden late on and added extra energy. Fired a shot over the bar from the edge of the box. Then the all-important pass to Watkins showed exactly why he is trusted to deliver in these big moments. And boy does he deliver.
Ollie Watkins – 9
Looked to stretch the Dutch backline and get in behind on occasion. Then the goal – a nine rating for a number nine’s finish if ever you saw one. Instant immortality.
Ezri Konsa and Conor Gallagher – N/A
Both substituted on in the 93rd minute as England saw out the game.
England star admits he’s ‘annoyed’ with his role under Gareth Southgate at Euro 2024 (an)
The striker spoke candidly at a press conference on Wednesday.
Ivan Toney has admitted that he was annoyed at Gareth Southgate during England’s match with Slovakia.
The striker made his first appearance of the 2024 European Championships on Sunday, as he came off the England bench in the final seconds of injury time.
Toney had just three appearances for England ahead of the tournament, making his debut in September 2022 in the UEFA Nations League.
Advert
After the match manager Gareth Southgate joked that Toney was ‘disgusted’ at being introduced so late into a game that the Three Lions desperately needed to score in.
But the Brentford striker set the record straight, admitting that, while he was annoyed at the situation, he was ready to play any role at the tournament.
0 seconds of 50 secondsVolume 90%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard Shortcuts
Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ?
Play/PauseSPACE
Increase Volume↑
Decrease Volume↓
Seek Forward→
Seek Backward←
Captions On/Offc
Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf
Mute/Unmutem
Decrease Caption Size–
Increase Caption Size+ or =
Seek %0-9
Speaking in a press conference on Wednesday, he said: “It’s always going to be tough.
Advert
“It’s tough for all of us as we play week in, week out for our clubs. I have been in this position before and when I get an opportunity I’ll take it.”
After a difficult season which saw him banned for eight months for breaching FA betting rules, the 28-year-old admitted that he had been seeing a sports psychologist at Brentford.
“At my club, there is a guy called Michael Caufield [a sports psychologist] and he talks about controlling your emotions,” Toney said.
“Yes, I was annoyed but there was still 30 minutes of football to play [including extra-time] and you have got to come out of that mood and focus.
“I feel like, people call them substitutes, others finishers. I think you have to be ready and there’s more than 11 players needed to win a tournament.”
Toney impressed in his cameo on Sunday, as he assisted Harry Kane’s winning goal in extra time just moments after Jude Bellingham’s bicycle kick equalised the match.
Ivan Toney made his Euro 2024 debut for England in the closing minutes of the knockout match with Slovakia. (Image: Getty)
And, speaking after the match, manager Southgate expanded on his comments claiming the striker was ‘disgusted’ at his lack of playing time.
“I could just tell from his face what he was thinking, and I could understand it,” Southgate told talkSPORT.
“I’m putting him on with a minute to go – any player is going to think ‘I’ve been sat for the tournament, and you’ve not used me’ but what I said to him was that ‘I know this isn’t a good time and I know it’s not how you’d like it, but there could be one moment’.
“I think he’s just about forgiven me now!”
Unseen footage from inside the stadium shows Jordan Pickford’s 1000 IQ move to put Manuel Akanji off during penalty shootout (an)
Jordan Pickford made a crucial penalty save from Manuel Akanji as England progressed to the Euro 2024 semi finals.
Unseen footage from inside the stadium showed how England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford got inside the head of Manuel Akanji before producing a crucial penalty save.
Pickford has become something of a penalty specialist for the Three Lions and England’s No.1 came up with heroics again in the quarter final in Dusseldorf.
After a 1-1 draw following Bukayo Saka quickly cancelling out Breel Embolo’s strike, the clash went all the way to penalties.
All five of England’s takers did the business, with Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold all finding the net to secure a 5-3 shoot-out victory.
Image: Getty
Manchester City defender Akanji was the only player to miss after stepping up first for the Swiss.
But the BBC’s feed did not quite cover the lengths Pickford went to put off Akanji.
He spent a considerable amount of time delaying the taking of the penalty
As shared by presenter Rob Armstrong, footage from the stands showed Pickford taking his time, putting his water bottle and towel down before speaking to the referee Daniele Orsato.
He then guessed right to make the save after having the words “dive left” on his bottle in regards to Akanji’s placement.
Image: Getty
Pickford has now saved four penalties out of 14 in major tournament shoot-outs but the Everton shostopper did reveal afterwards that the referee didn’t allow his normal process during the shoot-out.
Speaking to ITV, he said: “Firstly, the referee didn’t let me do my usual process, so I’ve got to adapt… because I like to give the lads the ball. I could only do it for the first time and luckily, I saved it.”
Alexander-Arnold scored the winning penalty to set up a semi final showdown with the Netherlands on Wednesday.
The Dutch came from behind to beat Turkey 2-1 in Berlin.
