Alan Shearer hailed Gareth Southgate’s “nasty” side and ability to generate a strong team spirit after England secured a place in a first major final in 55 years.
But Shearer's ex-England strike partner, Michael Owen, wasn't impressed with the tactical change that saw substitute Jack Grealish substituted.
The Three Lions came from behind, having conceded their first goal of the tournament, in their 2-1 extra-time win over Denmark in their Euro 2020 semi-final at Wembley.
With the scores level at 1-1 in normal time, Southgate turned to Jack Grealish as his first substitute.
But having got in front through Harry Kane, Southgate then made a tactical change and took off crowd favourite Grealish just 36 minutes after he had come on as a second-half substitute.
In the immediate aftermath of England's triumph, Southgate sought out Grealish to explain his decision, only for the Aston Villa captain to reply: “Gaffer, it doesn’t matter. I’m not bothered. We’ve got to the final!”
Shearer, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, said: “You have to given the manager credit, he’s the one that creates the team spirit.
“It’s very difficult to do that when you have a squad of 26 players and for those players who are not in the starting line-up it doesn’t mean they are not absolutely devastated they are not on the pitch.
“A lot of the country was shouting for Jack Grealish to start but Gareth has resisted that.
“He put him on last night to try to change the game and then when England scored the second goal he takes Grealish off and leaves Sterling on who is absolutely shattered.
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“There is a nasty side to Gareth and he was spot-on to do that but you can’t tell me Jack Grealish isn’t angry, hurt and disappointed.
“The manager now has to go and manage that and get everyone together again and say ‘Put your individual feelings to one side’.”
However, Shearer's former England strike partner Michael Owen wasn't so impressed with Southgate's Grealish decision however.
Grealish became just the third England player in history to be a substituted substitute at a major tournament - following in the footsteps of Jamie Redknapp (Euro '96, vs Scotland) and Aaron Lennon (Word Cup 2006, vs Portugal).
Despite England's triumph, Owen couldn't see the logic in sacrificing Grealish when England had the lead, writing on Twitter post-game,
"Regardless of the result, bringing Jack Grealish off isn't my idea of a good decision.
"He is the perfect player in this situation to keep the ball, win free-kicks, run the clock down etc."
Southgate endured his own personal England heartbreak as a player at Euro 96 when his failure in the penalty shoot-out against Germany saw them miss out on the final.
While he has played down the redemption element to this current run, former team-mate Tony Adams believes it has been important for the 50-year-old to enjoy some success.
“Weirdly I texted him the other day, to say congratulations, because I felt so proud to be his pal,” he told Good Morning Britain.
“He came back with a beautiful answer. He said ‘Thank God my mum and dad don’t have to put up with all that pain any more’.
“He was more concerned about his family – the amount of stick they’ve taken down the years – that they actually can put it behind them and forget that.
“And he’s making a new story, making a new path for these new young players. Most of them weren’t born when he missed that penalty.”
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