English youngsters can learn from frenetic win, says Southgate

GARETH Southgate is pleased by the way England’s youngsters are progressing and believes the frenetic win against Kosovo will serve them well.

Gone are the days where profile led to selection for the Three Lions over potential, with four players aged 22 or under starting Tuesday’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Southampton.

A further two in that age bracket came off the bench in the 5-3 victory over a Kosovo side who ruthlessly punished individual mistakes at St Mary’s, with Michael Keane and Harry Maguire errors bookending a sloppy Declan Rice mistake.

Southgate believes such sloppiness will help England moving forwards, while 19-year-old Jadon Sancho’s brace underlined his quality with his first two international goals.

“I think it’s still really early stages of Declan’s international career, and he’s given two really mature performances,” the England boss said. “Although he played in the summer (in the Nations League), he’s still such a young player. It was an important experience for Trent (Alexander-Arnold), and two important experiences for (Mason) Mount. And there’s Jadon too.

“But it’s not a bad thing for them to go through, to experience that.

“We’ve had a lot of qualifying games that have been a breeze and (against Kosovo) they’ve had a different sort of test.

“And the only way for them to mature and learn and improve is to go through those sorts of situations.

“I mean, you would still feel a twogoal lead... from the side, we’re thinking we’re still in control of the game, but on the pitch that can feel a little bit differently. We’ve learned a lot from individual and collective responses to those moments.

“But in terms of the young players, there still won’t be many teams who have played as many under-22/23s as we have, I would imagine.”