DISCIPLINE KEY TO EURO BID, WARNS SOUTHGATE

GARETH SOUTHGATE has warned player indiscipline could cost England a crack at Euro 2020 glory after James Maddison’s Covid breach virtually ended his hopes of gatecrashing the squad. Leicester playmaker Maddison was axed by Brendan Rodgers for Sunday’s defeat at West Ham over an incident the Foxes described as ‘extremely disappointing’. ‘In the autumn, discipline off the pitch and on the pitch created the biggest issues for us and meant we didn’t get to the semi-finals of the

Nations League that we were desperate to be in,’ said Southgate. ‘It still annoys me when I look at that line-up — Italy, Spain, Belgium, France. It’s a brilliant line-up and games you want to be involved in. ‘One of the key areas was that we didn’t have players available at certain times for on-the-field and off-the-field misdemeanours.’ Southgate was at the London Stadium on Sunday to watch Maddison, who missed his chance to impress the England boss, particularly given the reemergence of West Ham loanee Jesse Lingard and the fact Jack Grealish and Jadon Sancho are set to return to the fold after injury. Maddison, 24, frustrated Southgate in October 2019 after being spotted in a casino 24 hours after withdrawing from an England squad because of illness. Mason Greenwood, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, Tammy Abraham, Ben Chilwell and Sancho have all flouted Covid rules in the last year.