England is being held back by one man and Trent Alexander-Arnold sums it up perfectly

It isn't coming home.

Anyone who watched England throughout Euro 2024 will have known that was likely to be the case for a long time but, in fairness to Gareth Southgate, he did get some results - just not the one that mattered most .

The Three Lions are getting closer. Ultimately, though, as has often been the case with England, when it has come up against one of the better sides - rather than a favorable draw against Sweden, Slovakia or Switzerland - it has come unstuck. That was the case here where Spain had too much.

As well as Southgate has done to get England into finals, his use of certain players has been baffling. He was brave enough to hook Harry Kane on the hour mark in the final, but the Bayern Munich striker was ineffective all tournament long.

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Phil Foden was a shadow of his Manchester City self and Trent Alexander-Arnold was either moved into an unfamiliar midfield position or left out entirely. It was hardly the stuff of managerial genius.

England had a better group of players than any other nation at the tournament, but it always felt like Southgate's selected side was going to produce less than the sum of its parts. That was the case in the final, in which Alexander-Arnold didn't play a minute: England played better than it often has, but still lacked cohesion.

Cole Palmer's equalizer - like Bukayo Saka's against Switzerland - came almost from nowhere. It was a long-range effort that flew in, but it was not the end product of a period of pressure.

This was an England side filled with attacking talent but without the cutting edge when it really mattered. Spain, in contrast, was able to carve open a couple of big chances, even if the second was only very fortunately onside.

And it is not as if Southgate doesn't have the tools. In Alexander-Arnold, he has a world-class creative weapon being misused. With Foden and Saka wide rather than Anthony Gordon , England was a little too predictable and lacked runners in behind.

Imagine for a second that it was the Liverpool number 66 who was caught out of position for the Spain opener or he had performed below par on the big occasion. Kyle Walker , though, can do no wrong.

Both Spain goals came down the right-hand side of the England team, where Walker was stationed. What might happen if Alexander-Arnold comes up against Kylian Mbappe ? Perhaps the question should have been involving Walker and Marc Cucurella.

England looked like it needed Alexander-Arnold's creativity and Gordon's running in behind all tournament. In the case of the Liverpool man, the reward has always outweighed the risk; for England, though, several suspect decisions and a team where there was talent left on the table means there should be a feeling of 'what if?' on the plane home.

With a better coach, England could have been so much better to watch and effective in terms of results — and Alexander-Arnold would have been just one part of that. It wouldn't have taken much more for the Three Lions to be coming home victorious, and yet Southgate could be rewarded with a new deal.