UEFA Nations League: 3 reasons why England beat Spain

#2 Southgate’s midfield changes worked brilliantly

Eric Dier had a great game as part of England's midfield trio

To look at the statistics – 73% possession for Spain and 20 shots on goal for the home side compared to 5 for England – and you’d think this was a simple smash-and-grab job from the Three Lions. To an extent that was the case, but that’d also be doing England’s midfield trio – Harry Winks, Eric Dier and Ross Barkley – a massive disservice.

All three of them were outstanding tonight; Dier’s positioning in front of the defence allowed him to consistently close down Spain’s Sergio Busquets – the man who usually makes Spain tick – and the Barcelona man was unable to control the game in the same way he did in September’s match between the two.

Winks played some smart, quick passes throughout the game and more importantly, didn’t give the ball away on many occasions – again, not allowing Spain the midfield domination they had at Wembley. And finally, while Barkley disappointed in Friday’s game with Croatia, he was tremendous here – winning and retaining the ball, and his chipped pass to set up England’s third goal was phenomenal.

After the Croatia game Gareth Southgate suggested that he’d switched from his World Cup 3-3-2-2 formation to a 4-3-3 to strengthen England defensively, particularly to stop the midfield from being over-run as it had been against Croatia in the World Cup and against Spain in September.

That was largely successful against Croatia, as they were limited to few chances, but it was much more evident tonight – England didn’t win the midfield battle per say but at no point did they appear to be outclassed as they were a month ago. And that’s down to Southgate’s underrated tactical nous – as well as three great performances from Dier, Winks and Barkley.