Jamie Carragher has refused to blame Gareth Southgate for England’s Euro 2024 final defeat, saying the Three Lions’ star players froze when it mattered most.

England were deservedly beaten 2-1 by Spain in Sunday’s Berlin showpiece, with Mikel Oyarzabal scoring the winner after Cole Palmer cancelled out Nico Williams’ opener.

The Three Lions struggled for control throughout the game, enjoying just 34.9% of the possession as Spain accumulated 1.77 expected goals (xG) to their 0.55.

It was a familiar sinking feeling for Southgate, who was also criticised for England’s failure to maintain control when leading against Croatia in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and Italy in the Euro 2020 final.

England lost possession 98 times in total and completed only 66.5% of passes in Spain’s half, with only Luke Shaw and Bukayo Saka completing over 90% of their passes among the Three Lions’ starters.

Despite Southgate facing criticism once more, former defender Carragher refused to lay blame at the manager’s door, saying England’s best players failed to show up.

Carragher wrote on X: “Sven [Goran Eriksson] played 4-4-2, Fabio [Capello] was too strict, Gareth is too defensive! Funny how it’s always on the manager isn’t it?

“The fact is our big players didn’t turn up in this tournament. And at other tournaments going back years.

“I have no relationship at all with Southgate. I feel he has been cautious from the bench throughout his time, but in this tournament the substitutes have been great.

“There is this idea though that he is holding back an amazing team. Is it any better than 1996, 1998 or 2004?

“International football is not littered with top managers, it’s about the players. Ours froze in that first half, allowing the keeper to go long [and] not demanding the ball [and] showing for it.”

While Jude Bellingham teed up Palmer’s equaliser, he only completed 67.7% of his passes, with only Jordan Pickford (55.6%) faring worse among all 22 starters.

Captain Harry Kane was another to struggle, failing to record a single touch in the Spain area before he was withdrawn for Ollie Watkins midway through the second half.

Across the Euro 2020 and Euro 2024 finals, Kane had just one touch in the opposition’s area, one fewer than Jack Grealish had. Grealish played 21 minutes in the 2020 final and did not make the 2024 squad.