England suffered heartbreak on Sunday night as they lost their second Euros final in a row at the hands of Spain.
Aston Villa duo Ezri Konsa and Ollie Watkins both started the game on the bench as England looked to overcome the tournament’s best performers in Berlin.
Watkins’ heroics in the semi-final were not enough to tempt Gareth Southgate to start him over Harry Kane, but with England going 1-0 down just after half-time it did not take long for England to turn to the Villa striker.
England immediately looked more threatening as Watkins looked to run in behind and harried the Spain defenders in a way that Kane simply isn’t capable of doing and soon equalised through Cole Palmer.
It was late heartbreak for England, though, with Mikel Oyarzabal scoring an 86th-minute winner, but Watkins’ displays should ensure he is part of the England squad moving forward regardless of who is manager.
Ollie Watkins praised after replacing ‘labouring’ Harry Kane v Spain
Despite Watkins’ last-gasp winner against Netherlands to set up the final against Spain, it was no surprise to see Kane start on Sunday night.
Kane is England’s record goalscorer, but he had an incredibly disappointing tournament in Germany with the way Southgate set up his side clearly not utilising the Bayern Munich striker’s strengths.
Southgate was bold enough to withdraw his captain with half-an-hour to go however, with Watkins’ introduction seemingly revitalising England.
Watkins gave England’s creative players in the likes of Phil Foden and Cole Palmer a willing runner to pick out and Watkins was unlucky not to take the ball in his stride after a through ball from Jude Bellingham late on.
Metro highlighted the impact of the Villa man in their post-match player ratings, scoring Watkins a six out of ten before commenting: ‘His style of play is a huge help to England after struggling with Kane labouring on the pitch for most of the game.
Higher energy and getting the team higher up the pitch, but couldn’t work a chance for himself’.
Perhaps most telling is the fact they gave Kane’s display a three.
Can Watkins become England’s starting striker?
Watkins’ tournament threatened to end with little opportunity to make his mark prior to his goal against Netherlands.
Having come off the bench in the second group game against Denmark, the 28-year-old would not feature again until the semi-final; Ivan Toney the striker favoured off the bench in the previous two knockout games.
However, when his chance came Watkins took it and subsequently was handed 30 minutes to make an impact against Spain.
There are a lot of uncertainties with England following the conclusion of Euro 2024, with a new manager expected to take Southgate’s place.
Kane is still only 30, so the reality is that England need to find a way of playing that gets the best out of a player who scored 44 goals for Bayern last season.
Watkins has now shown now though that, if Kane continues to underperform, he is more than ready to step into the centre-forward position for England.
