Southgate - You're the One!

Gareth Southgate has emphasised to the press that his side must remained focused and professional ahead of their upcoming double header against Montengero and Kosovo in their Euro 2020 qualification games. Southgate's England currently sit top of Group A as the only side to have won all three of their games - this comes after victories against Kosovo, Bulgaria and Czech Republic.

Southgate's squads have presented opportunities for young English talent to blossom on the international stage, and this is no different this time round as Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori has received his first call up, with Leicester's James Maddison having also in line for a potential first cap.

The most notable absence from the England squad is that of Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana. Southgate told the press: "Adam is a good player, with a lot of good qualities. However, with so many younger players starting to flourish in the Premier League, there is no room for him at this time"

A surprise inclusion is that of Southampton striker Danny Ings, who has made a strong start to the 2019/20 campaign having scored three goals in the Saints' opening four games. "Form in the league must be rewarded" Southgate highlighted, "gone are the times of relying on the old guard, if a player impresses and puts strong performances in for his club, then they will always be considered for selection"

The full squad for the upcoming games is:

Goalkeepers:
Fraser Forster
Jordan Pickford
Nick Pope

Defenders:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Ben Chilwell
Joe Gomez
Harry Maguire
Danny Rose
John Stones
Fikayo Tomori
Kyle Walker

Midfielders:
Dele Alli
Ross Barkley
Jordan Henderson
James Maddison
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Jadon Sancho
Raheem Sterling
Harry Winks

Forwards:
Tammy Abraham
Danny Ings
Harry Kane
Marcus Rashford

Southgate’s reaction:
“We had a slow start to the game, despite us having a lot of possession we didn’t cause much damage with it. We got better as the half went on and we saw Harry’s (Kane) killer instinct managing to get on the end of a second ball from a set play, and that relieved the pressure massively. Raheem (Sterling) then showed great composure with his finish early in the second half, but we couldn’t make the most of that advantage.

Their goal was avoidable, giving the ball away too easily and when you give a striker the opportunity to get through on goal they always have the advantage. But I’m proud that we didn’t panic, we kept trying to do the right things and that ultimately saw us through the game today”


Southgate’s reaction:
“Firstly I have to give a lot of credit to the hosts today, they played with great character and fight, which ultimately made our task a lot harder. We had to ride through some early pressure that they created from set plays, but once we got comfortable with the conditions we were able to get a foothold in the game, looking after possession more and beginning to cause problems for them.

Once we took the lead through Jadon (Sancho), it was plain sailing for us without being disrespectful to our opponents. We never looked like conceding today, but ultimately Kosovo kept making it difficult for us to score, and without the late flurry of goals towards the end, the result wouldn’t have looked as it does now. Plenty of positives to take from these two games, but there’s certainly a lot of aspects to improve upon”

Perhaps a little tougher than expected against Montenegro but you grabbed the three points regardless. I was surprised to see Forster called up. I wonder when we can expect to see Dean Henderson introduced to the fold and even Jack Grealish for that matter?

@Scott Certainly a challenge. I’m sure Henderson and Grealish will get a chance soon enough

Gareth Southgate has announced his England squad for this month’s international fixtures as England prepare to face Bulgaria at Wembley in their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign, before returning there only days later to take on Slovakia in an international friendly match.

Two changes have been made from the previous squad, with the injured goalkeeper Fraser Forster being left out in favour of Sheffield United’s on loan goalkeeper Dean Henderson who receives his first call up to the senior England team. He will also be joined in the squad by Bournemouth’s prolific goalscorer Callum Wilson, who takes the place of Southampton’s Danny Ings.

Wilson, 27 has three caps to his name and has showed great form for his club side which has clearly caught the attention of England boss Gareth Southgate. Raheem Sterling is carrying a knock picked up whilst training with club side Manchester City, which will see Manchester United’s young forward and current England U21s striker Mason Greenwood being placed on as a first reserve.

Southgate on Henderson:
“Dean is a fantastic young man, who has got a lot of ability which he has clearly shown this season in his time with Sheffield United. With Fraser (Forster) picking up an injury, it does open the door to Dean to try and cement his place in the squad. He’s a player who has been on my radar for sometime with the progress he’s made playing for the U21s, and I’m sure if he gets given the nod to play then he’ll be ready”

Southgate on Wilson:
“Callum is a great talent, over the last few seasons his stock has really grown and he’s a name that has emerged many times from our representatives, and I have seen him play many times over the past eighteen months and he will add a different to our attacking play to that of Harry (Kane), Marcus (Rashford) and Tammy (Abraham)”

Goalkeepers:
Dean Henderson
Jordan Pickford
Nick Pope

Defenders:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Ben Chilwell
Joe Gomez
Harry Maguire
Danny Rose
John Stones
Fikayo Tomori
Kyle Walker

Midfielders:
Dele Alli
Ross Barkley
Jordan Henderson
James Maddison
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Jadon Sancho
Raheem Sterling
Harry Winks

Forwards:
Tammy Abraham
Harry Kane
Marcus Rashford
Callum Wilson

Two very good players brought into the fold. Southgate has revitalised the national team and hopefully he can bring success in the near future.

@ScottT: Definitely exciting times for England!

Gareth Southgate’s England have confirmed their place at the European Championships next summer after an emphatic 6-0 victory over Bulgaria at Wembley Stadium. This comes as England’s sixth straight win during the qualifying stages which sees them progress through the finals with two game remaining.

“It’s a great achievement” claimed Southgate, “but we can’t take our foot off the pedal. We will still be going out in our games against Czech Republic and Montenegro aiming for eight wins out of eight. If we want to become European or World champions, we need to be ruthless and never let our standards drop”


Starting XI: (4-2-3-1)
01.Jordan Pickford
02.Trent Alexander-Arnold
05.Joe Gomez
04.Fikayo Tomori
03.Ben Chilwell (Rose 76)
06.Harry Winks
08.Jordan Henderson
11.Raheem Sterling (Oxlade-Chamberlain 45)
10.Dele Alli (Barkley 69)
07.Jadon Sancho
09.Harry Kane (c)

Scorer(s):
Raheem Sterling (5, 12, pen 33)
Harry Kane (29, 83)
Dele Alli (62)

Southgate’s reaction:
“Very happy with both the result and performance. Certainly been the most ruthless that we have looked so far this season in terms of converting our chances into goals and punishing our opponent’s bad play.

Raheem (Sterling) had a superb first half, and it is gutting that had to come off at half time with a knock as he was causing Bulgaria lots of problems. Albeit, that does give Mason (Greenwood) an opportunity (having been called up as a replacement), as well as other players already within our squad for our friendly against Slovakia”


Starting XI: (4-4-2)
01.Nick Pope (Henderson 59)
02.Kyle Walker
05.John Stones
04.Harry Maguire (c)
03.Danny Rose
11.James Maddison (Alexander-Arnold 65)
06.Harry Winks (Henderson 65)
08.Ross Barkley
07.Marcus Rashford
10.Tammy Abraham
09.Callum Wilson (Alli 59)

Scorer(s):
James Maddison (1)
Ross Barkley (4)
Marcus Rashford (22)
Tammy Abraham (33)

Southgate’s reaction:
“A good outing for the boys today, give a chance for the players in the squad who haven’t featured in the previous few matches to stake a claim for a starting spot. I think it shows today that we have tremendous strength in depth by pulling of such a convincing win despite us making ten changes from the previous match.

(On Dean Henderson’s debut) I thought he acclimatised well, albeit he only got thirty-five minutes, but for me its all about exposing these young players to the international stage; hopefully today will have given him a good taste of what international football is like and make him even hungrier to keep his spot”

Standards can't drop. The very best are as clinical as ever at all times. However it is pleasing to see England through already in comfortable fashion.

@ScottT: Definitely!

Gareth Southgate has announced his England squad for this month’s Euro 2020 qualifiers as England prepare to travel away to Czech Republic before hosting Montenegro back at Wembley Stadium on home soil.

Two changes have been made from the previous squad, Manchester City defender John Stones is out with a torn thigh muscle and Tottenham's Harry Winks being left out of the squad despite inclusion within all of Southgate's squads this season.

Winks has been replaced by Chelsea's uncapped midfielder Mason Mount, who impressed last season under Lampard at Derby County, before being presented with the prospect of first team football this season at Stamford Bridge under his old boss, where he has already made eleven starts in the Premier League this campaign.

Meanwhile, the injury to centre back John Stones has opened the door on an international return for Roma defender Chris Smalling, who is currently on loan from City's biggest rivals Manchester United. Smalling, 29 currently has thirty-one caps to his name in which he has scored one goal; his last of which came back in June 2017 in a World Cup qualifier against Scotland.

Southgate on Smalling:
“There's no doubt its been a tough period for Chris not being in and around the England set up for sometime, but he always maintained in the media his interest and eagerness at trying to get back into the fold, and his impressive performances in Italy this season have certainly caught our attention. We will never close the door on any player and his selection certainly shows that in my opinion"

Southgate on Mount:
"Mason has been regularly involved within the England set up this season featuring for the Under 21s in their qualifying campaign, Adrian (Boothroyd - U21s manager) has sent back many glowing reports of his performances and development over the past three months, and if our young players are performing for their club's and within our younger age groups, then they ultimately deserve the chance to be called up to the senior side"

Goalkeepers:
Dean Henderson
Jordan Pickford
Nick Pope

Defenders:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Ben Chilwell
Joe Gomez
Harry Maguire
Danny Rose
Chris Smalling
Fikayo Tomori
Kyle Walker

Midfielders:
Dele Alli
Ross Barkley
Jordan Henderson
James Maddison
Mason Mount
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Jadon Sancho
Raheem Sterling

Forwards:
Tammy Abraham
Harry Kane
Marcus Rashford
Callum Wilson

Gareth Southgate’s England finished off their Group A campaign with a goalless draw away in the Czech Republic, before ending with a straight forward 3-0 victory over Montenegro.

This sees the three lions finish top of their qualifying group unbeaten, only dropping point on one occasion in a goalless draw at Czech Republic; but arguable the most impressive stat is that England have only conceded one goal through the entire qualifying campaign.


Starting XI: (4-2-3-1)
01.Jordan Pickford
02.Trent Alexander-Arnold (Abraham 81)
05.Joe Gomez
04.Fikayo Tomori
03.Ben Chilwell
06.Mason Mount
08.Jordan Henderson
11.Raheem Sterling (Maddison 78)
10.Dele Alli
07.Jadon Sancho (Rashford 51)
09.Harry Kane (c)

Scorer(s):
None

Southgate’s reaction:
"It was an underwhelming performance to be honest, I felt that overall it was a decent performance but decent isn't where we are looking to be. Czech Republic are a good side, and at home they have proven to be difficult to beat during this campaign, so some credit does have to go to the way they defended.

Like them we defended well, but we need to improve on coming up against teams who will just turn up and stick a lot of men behind the ball. We like having the ball, we like to keep it, but we need to be more destructive with the ball and create more innovative and creative solutions in order to break our opponents down"


Starting XI: (4-2-3-1)
01.Jordan Pickford
02.Joe Gomez
05.Fikayo Tomori
04.Harry Maguire
03.Ben Chilwell
06.Jordan Henderson
08.James Maddison
11.Raheem Sterling
10.Dele Alli (Abraham 74)
07.Jadon Sancho (Rose 81)
09.Harry Kane (c) (Rashford 60)

Scorer(s):
Raheem Sterling (5)
Jordan Henderson (45+1)
James Maddison (81)

Southgate’s reaction:
"It was a great improvement on the game a few days ago, with the ball we looked much more of a threat going forwards, Montenegro when we played them back in September gave us a very tough game and showed just how difficult a side they are to break down, and the way in which we applied the pressure during the early phases of the game enabled us to break the deadlock so quickly.

That first goal give us confidence, it relieved the pressure and allowed us to approach the rest of the game in a calm and controlled manner which ultimately led to the victory that we achieved"

It would have been nice to have won each and every game, but an unbeaten qualification campaign is still pleasing nonetheless.

@ScottT: Would have been ideal, but with a +19 GD and only conceding one goal all campaign, England can hold their heads high

BT Sport has been given unprecedented access to the men’s English national football team throughout their preparation, the build, and for the duration of the European Championships in June.

This includes interviews, squad announcements and match reports from all four of England’s friendlies in preparation for the tournaments, and how Southgate and his team are preparing for challenge that lies ahead.

There is no doubt that every England is living off of the highs and joy of England’s third-place finish at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but it’s worth remembering that England’s last performance in the European Championships back in 2016 saw them struggle through the group stages before being on the receiving on of a 2-1 defeat to Iceland – which caused national humiliation and ultimately Roy Hodgson his job.

England will be wanting to put that right by maintaining the tournament form they built in Russia only two years prior, as they aim to take the European Championship title, to give them momentum going into the 2022 winter World Cup in Qatar.


Ahead of England’s friendlies with Mexico and Switzerland, BT Sport’s Rio Ferdinand sat down with England boss Gareth Southgate to discuss his side’s qualifying campaign.

Ferdinand:Gareth, you’ve come through qualification undefeated and only dropping two points throughout the campaign, are you happy with how your side has done?

Southgate:It has been pleasing, throughout the twelve-month qualifying process we have put on some impressive performances which we can take a lot from and look to build upon; yes a couple of results were scrappy and not as easy as we would’ve liked, but we’ve achieved our ultimate aim of qualifying, and that’s what’s important.

Ferdinand:We’ve seen in your squads that you have continued your philosophy of bringing young players through, we’ve seen the likes of Tomori, Mount, Gomez, Henderson; is this something that will continue going into the Euros?

Southgate:I think we showed back in 2018 that as a coaching setup, we aren’t afraid to call up younger players into squads, there is a lot of great English talent out there; whether they get the amount of game time they deserve at their clubs is irrelevant to us. We’ve seen a lot of boys come through and prove themselves playing in the younger England age groups, and we know what they’re capable of. If we don’t put them into these challenging environments at an early stage of their development, then they’ll never develop into the mentally strong players we want to create.

Ferdinand:Four friendlies coming up both this month and also in early June. Do you feel that these will appropriately prepare the squad for what lies ahead?

Southgate:We always back our process, our beliefs and our preparation, you just have to look at the four sides we are playing to show you how seriously we are taking it. Three of the sides are in the top 15 of the world rankings, we want to rotate and test out a collection of young players against strong opposition to see what they’re ultimately made of.

Ferdinand:Now I’m this is the question everyone wants to know the answer to. How far do you genuinely think we can go in this tournament?

Southgate:I’m not willing to put a target onto that. We aren’t putting any pressure on ourselves as to what we need to go and achieve. We’re sticking to my belief and approach that the most important game we play is the next one, and every game we play we go in aiming to win within ninety minutes – if you keep doing that successfully, then you’ll eventually get somewhere.

England have announced the four nations who they will be taking on in International Friendly matches as they prepare for the 2020 European Championships. This includes two friendlies taking place in March 2020, and two friendlies in June 2020 which will take place ten days before the start of the tournament as England will ultimately squeeze down their preliminary squad of 30 down to a squad of 23.

Their two matches in March will see them travel to the United States to take on Mexico before returning to Wembley a few days later to host Switzerland.

Then once their preliminary squad of 30 is chosen ahead of the tournament, England will take on Spain at Wembley in early June, before day later traveling to Petersburg to take on Russia.

CONFIRMED FRIENDLIES:
25/3/20: Mexico (A)
28/3/20: Switzerland (H)
03/6/20: Spain (H)
06/6/20: Russia (A)

England has made five changes to the squad that was selected for the last two matches of the qualifying stages of Euro 2020, including two uncapped players.

John Stones’ return to fitness meant he came back into the fold in place of Chris Smalling after his first call up in two years at the end of 2019. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s lack of appearances for club side Liverpool has seen him left out of the squad in favour of Chelsea’s Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Injuries have also played a part in this month’s selection with national team captain Harry Kane, and Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount both being ruled out of the squad. This has seen Harry Winks regain his spot in the squad having been dropped for Mount in the previous squad, and Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin in line for a potential first cap as Kane’s replacement.

Kyle Walker is another big name to be excluded from Southgate’s squad, with Chelsea’s young defender Reece James receiving his first call-up for the senior side.

Goalkeepers:
Dean Henderson
Jordan Pickford
Nick Pope

Defenders:
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Ben Chilwell
Joe Gomez
Reece James
Harry Maguire
Danny Rose
John Stones
Fikayo Tomori

Midfielders:
Dele Alli
Ross Barkley
Jordan Henderson
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
James Maddison
Jadon Sancho
Raheem Sterling
Harry Winks

Forwards:
Tammy Abraham
Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Marcus Rashford
Callum Wilson


Starting XI: (4-2-3-1)
01.Jordan Pickford
02.Trent Alexander-Arnold (James 62)
05.Joe Gomez
04.Fikayo Tomori
03.Ben Chilwell (Rose 62)
06.Harry Winks
08.Jordan Henderson (c)
11.Raheem Sterling (Barkley 62)
10.Dele Alli (Loftus-Cheek 66)
07.Jadon Sancho (Rashford 66)
09.Tammy Abraham (Wilson 85)

Goalscorers:
None


Starting XI: (4-2-3-1)
01.Dean Henderson
02.Reece James
05.Joe Gomez
04.John Stones
03.Ben Chilwell (Rose 79)
06.Jordan Henderson (c) (Winks 45)
08.James Maddison (Loftus-Cheek 79)
11.Raheem Sterling (Alexander-Arnold 45)
10.Dele Alli (Rashford 45)
07.Jadon Sancho (Wilson 45)
09.Tammy Abraham

Goalscorers:
Jadon Sancho (33)
Callum Wilson (69)