Southgate will not hesitate to throw his young lions into the foreign fray

Gareth Southgate says he will have no hesitation about throwing his young stars into the potentially intimidating environment of tonight’s Euro 2020 qualifier in Montenegro.

Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole were verbally abused and targeted with missiles when England travelled to Podgorica for a World Cup qualifier in 2013 and a similarly tough atmosphere is expected.

But Southgate, whose side began their European campaign with a 5-0 win over the Czech Republic on Friday, said: “This is part of their education and to be a top team we’ve got to adapt to every environment we go into.

“Friday at Wembley is always a different experience to going away from home in a qualifier, which is always difficult. But the only way the team can learn and improve is by going through these experiences.”

Midfielder Jordan Henderson shrugged off the potential milestone of achieving his 50th England cap in the

By CRAIG FORBES

match. Henderson said: “I’m proud to play for my country but the type of person I am, I’ll not really think about it too much.

“I just want to concentrate ondoingthebestformyteam. When I finish my career or my England career, then I can look back and decide if it was good or not.”

Meanwhile, Montenegro head coach Ljubisa Tumbakovic has been searching for a weakness in the England team but admits he cannot find one.

Leicester defender Harry Maguire was singled out by Czech Republic forward Matej Vydra as a “weak link” in the England ranks ahead of Friday’s game at Wembley but Tumbakovic disagreed.

Asked if he sees any weaknesses in the England squad, he replied: “I’m really trying but I can’t. We in the coaching team who deal with the players are realistic.”

While Raheem Sterling was scoring a hat-trick as England saw off the Czech Republic on Friday night, Montenegro started their Group A campaign with a draw in Bulgaria.

Tumbakovic was pleased with how his team grew into the game but feels the performance will have to be better to get anything out of the meeting with England.

“The importance of the start of the qualifiers, the first game, brings its own responsibilities,” he added.

“Because of that there were special nerves in the players from both national teams, that is why there was a lack of quality that would have made that game even more beautiful than it was.

“I do believe this second game will be at a higher level than the first one – the model and the way the [England] national team plays is something special.”