Southgate is pleased to have plenty of choice
MANAGER Gareth Southgate is relishing the headache brought by increased competition as England’s players look to stake their claim ahead of Euro 2020.
Next summer is shaping up to be one to remember, with the semifinals and final among seven European Championship matches to be hosted at Wembley.
The tournament presents a great opportunity for England to follow in the footsteps of the heroes of 1966 World Cup by winning silverware on home soil, and Southgate’s side moved a step closer to sealing qualification with Saturday’s 4-0 win against Bulgaria at Wembley.
Harry Kane’s hat-trick helped to blow away the Bulgarians. After finishing third in the inaugural UEFA Nations League over the summer, the Three Lions got their international season under way at the stadium they hope to end the campaign at.
England are among the favourites to lift the trophy next summer and qualification for the finals is well in hand, with March’s drubbings of the Czech Republic and Montenegro being followed by Saturday’s success, earned by Kane (pictured below right) and a Raheem Sterling goal.
Southgate somewhat surprisingly decided against experimenting with his starting line-up, but there looks set to be a fair bit of tinkering as players get the chance to shine.
“It’s very difficult to say, because I think so many of our players are still on a handful of caps, so many of them are improving rapidly,” Southgate said, when he was asked how close he was to deciding on his team for the tournament.
“The great thing is we’ve got genuine competition for places. We’ve got, clearly, probably four or five guys that you would expect to see on the team-sheet, but outside of that it’s very difficult to call on a lot of positions – and the way that people progress over this season and the way that the new ones adapt to international football will determine so much,” he added.
Southgate has proved to be openminded, bold and forward-thinking in his decision-making as England’s manager, with experienced players moved on in his quest to evolve and improve. Saturday’s match saw substitute Mason Mount become the latest talent to be fast-tracked into the senior side as the Chelsea player made his debut, while Jadon Sancho came off the bench as the 19-yearold won his seventh cap.
“I think the most important thing to say is that we’re not doing it for wallpaper – they’re in because they deserve to be in,” Southgate said.
“Mason’s performances already this season for his club and in training with us this week, then what he showed when he went into the game, show that he’s a threat to the starting team. So that’s hugely encouraging for us – you know that, for a lot of these lads, their best years are probably three or four or five years away.
“Of course, we’ve got to get the balance right of keeping on winning matches and blooding those players at the right times but, yes, English fans should be hugely excited when they see the likes of Mount and Sancho coming on.
“We love working with them because the mentality is good – it’s not just that they’ve got talent, they want to get better and it’s up to them how far they go.”
James Maddison and Tyrone Mings are the remaining uncapped players in Southgate’s 23-man squad, after Aaron Wan-Bissaka returned to Manchester United due to a back complaint. Club-mate Jesse Lingard followed suit on Saturday due to illness, but there are no plans to call up reinforcements ahead of tomorrow’s qualifier against Kosovo at Southampton.