Alan Shearer claims Gareth Southgate 'learnt from his mistakes'

Alan Shearer was thoroughly impressed with the attitude shown by the England players during Saturday's penalty shootout against Switzerland.

England prevailed 5-4 on spot kicks after the Euro 2024 quarter-final had ended 1-1 inside 120 minutes.

This was the fourth penalty shootout England had been involved in since Gareth Southgate became head coach in 2016.

England have won three of those shootouts - against Colombia at the 2018 World Cup, against Switzerland in the 2019 Nations League Finals and then against the same opposition at the Euros on Saturday.

But the Three Lions famously lost 4-3 to Italy on penalties in the final of Euro 2020.

Two of the three England players that missed against Italy had only been on the field for a matter of seconds before the shootout, with Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho being substituted on in added time at the end of extra time.

On Saturday, Southgate again made subs with penalties in mind. However, this time he made those changes earlier, allowing the likes of Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold to have multiple touches of the ball before stepping up to the spot.

Former England captain Shearer - who was involved in three penalty shootouts during his international career, winning one and losing two - was quick to praise Southgate for adjusting his approach.

Shearer told Betfair: 'England's penalties had it all, great attitude, great spot kicks, you have to include everything. Even [goalkeeper] Jordan Pickford with the way he had done his homework. Pickford and the penalty takers made it look like a breeze which it never is.

'I can't tell you the pressure and stress you feel when a game goes to penalties. Every single penalty was almost perfect. Looking at Ivan Toney's penalty, he just stared the keeper down and didn't even look at the ball. You have to be brave to do that.

'One thing Gareth Southgate was criticised for against Italy at Euro 2020 was that he brought on his penalty takers with just a couple of minutes to go, whereas he gave the likes of Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold plenty of time to get involved in the game so I think Gareth learnt from his mistakes there.

'It worked out perfectly but I believe there's still more to come performance-wise.'

England will now face the Netherlands on Wednesday, with the winner of that game progressing to meet either Spain or France in Sunday's final.

On Wednesday's match, Shearer added: 'It'll be a wonderful occasion. The fans in Dusseldorf were incredible. My son came over to watch the game with his pals and he was saying how brilliant the atmosphere was.

'The England fans have been amazing and they'll be exactly the same on Wednesday. I'm not siding against England at all. I think they'll find a way and they'll be able to step up again performance-wise.

'It could be a stressful, long evening again but I think England will just edge this one.'