by Ivan Toney is expected to start England’s friendly against Belgium with Gareth Southgate praising the striker’s “swagger” as he finally gets the chance to claim a place in the squad for the European Championships.
With Harry Kane ruled out injured and returning to Bayern Munich and Ollie Watkins failing to take his chance in the disappointing 1-0 defeat to Brazil Toney is being booked for his first start.
Southgate admitted that one of the biggest challenges in putting together a team to face Belgium is “who is left” with hard-hitting injuries and the need to manage players’ minutes before tough run of the season.
Jude Bellingham may not start – James Maddison could come in for the No. 1 role. That’s 10. Southgate said the Real Madrid midfielder came out against Brazil because he was “tightening up” after “missing a lot of football recently”.
There are also concerns over Ben Chilwell, who has replaced him on his way back from injury, while Conor Gallagher may need to be rested. Of those who made their debut against Brazil, Southgate said Anthony Gordon is now a “serious contender” for his 23-man squad to travel to Germany this summer while Ezri Konsa impressed at right-back and is likely to he will be given another chance against him. of Belgium. Kyle Walker was an early substitute after feeling strain on his return to Manchester City, while Harry Maguire was also sent home pending the results of a scan.
Much of the focus will be on Toney who had his only previous England appearance as an 81st minute substitute – replacing Kane – in last March’s 2-0 Euro qualifier win against Ukraine. Subsequently, in May, the Brentford forward was banned for eight months after admitting 232 counts of breaching the Football Association’s betting rules.
The 27-year-old only returned in January but has always remained in Southgate’s plans and the England manager brought him back into the squad at the first opportunity for the pair of famous friends.
Asked how big Tuesday’s game was for Toney, Southgate said: “You can’t hide that. He knows. It would be his first start so you have to take that into account as well. But with England being the landscape, you don’t get hundreds of opportunities. I think every player recognizes that’s the world we live in. But he is a confident man, he comes in after a good row with his club. He will be on the pitch on Tuesday, no question.”
‘His quality in link play is very good’
Toney is a different striker to Watkins who has been in great form for Aston Villa but, so far, has struggled to continue that with England.
“I sometimes think that quality [Toney’s] football can be underestimated. His death, his connection,” Southgate said. “We’re still getting to know all those talents because until you work with a more regular player you don’t know them inside out. You look at him as a big man but he’s not just a target man. His quality in link play is also very good.”
Toney is also certainly not lacking in confidence, which Southgate said was one of his main assets. “It’s crucial, especially for starting players. That swagger, that self-belief is key. The best players have it going forward,” he said.
Toney is also excellent at taking penalties which could be decisive at the Euros if England go into another of the final stages. Southgate says he is yet to work out the changes to the squad he can whittle down from 26, for the last two tournaments, back to 23.
“He’s definitely a great asset. “Obviously we have to work out the balance of the team,” Southgate said. “To see someone like Ezri Konsa doing so well as a goalkeeper, it was a very difficult question. He can play a couple of positions and those kind of players become really important if it’s a 23-man squad.”
That seems to be positive news for Konsa and there was encouragement from Southgate for Gordon as well. “The good thing is Gordon did what we thought he was going to do,” he said of the Newcastle United forward. “He has shown what he has done for his club, he is a real competitor and we have to find out what these other options are if we lose players like we have because nobody knows how this season will go out.”
There could be a chance for Cole Palmer, who is back in full training alongside Jordan Henderson, with Southgate admitting that fielding a team for the game will be a challenge, given the absences, without overburdening some players.
“We’re looking at who’s left,” Southgate said. “That’s the reality. We had to find Ben [Chilwell] and Harry [Maguire] out at 60 minutes because they have lost football in this period. We are thinking with Conor [Gallagher] to renew him. It’s a strange camp, really.
“We have to be responsible for how we play them – Chilwell and Maguire would be an example because of the load they’ve been on recently. Jude, when he’s cramping after an hour, we’re not going to take a chance on that sort of thing.”
Southgate said he was pleased with Chilwell’s performance against Brazil, although the left-back came in for some criticism. Luke Shaw is also expected to be fit in time for the Euros and recover from a recurrence of a leg problem. But a warning came from Southgate.
“Luke is one of the best left-backs in world football, frankly,” Southgate said. “But it will be on the edge of the season. We know now [for him] play seven games in Euro [to reach the final] highly unlikely.”
Hit it shows how much England midfielder Alexander-Arnold needs
Trent Alexander-Arnold came into the England squad at Wembley on Saturday recovering from a knee injury, with Gareth Southgate facing a decision to gamble on him to solve his midfield problem at Euro 2024.
Southgate used Alexander-Arnold in midfield four times, donning the No.
With Kalvin Phillips out of favour, there is a slot left alongside Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham in the central positions. Conor Gallagher started against Brazil at the weekend but the defeat left more questions than answers in midfield. It could be argued that it was a ringing endorsement for Alexander-Arnold starting when their Euro campaign begins against Serbia on June 16.
Alexander-Arnold’s place in the squad is guaranteed if he stays fit. He was named in the final squad for Qatar 16 months ago only to be ruled out of the tournament through injury and Southgate has been “trying” him as a midfielder ever since.
The Liverpool player, 25, was also fielded as an inverted full-back against Australia, starting on the right but moving into midfield. It was a friendly against the 23rd-ranked team in the FIFA world rankings, who knocked them out of the World Cup, but the question is whether Alexander-Arnold is ready to start against the best.
“It’s the midfield thing that we’ve seen, but we’ve missed two chances since September and now this one is really frustrating because there are so many unknowns at the moment,” Southgate said. “As you know, I’ve liked the idea for a long time, but we’re going to try it when we haven’t seen it in a high-level game. So we’ll just have to see where we can go with it.”
Alexander-Arnold’s commitment to the Euros was evident at Wembley. He could have been at Liverpool targeting a knee injury which has ruled him out since February 10, but opted to be part of the squad alongside the injured Luke Shaw who ‘worked in St George’s Park to be. around the England squad.
“Trent wanted to come to the game, he’s obviously in the last stages of his rehabilitation with Liverpool, so it wasn’t as easy for him to swim in as Luke Shaw did,” Southgate said.
With Rice anchoring and Bellingham progressing, it’s just another midfielder Southgate needs to secure before the summer. Jordan Henderson is also in the squad, although he was not fit for the Brazil match. Kobbie Mainoo made his debut against the South Americans but is raw. Kyle Walker’s position at right-back is secure, so he is unlikely to play Alexander-Arnold as an inverted full-back.
“It’s a specialist job. There is a big difference between playing at the back and bouncing into midfield and playing there, starting there, in and out of the game,” Southgate said. “Having your back to back, so there’s a lot to that. We’ll just have to see.”
Gallagher was a valuable squad player at the World Cup and won most of his caps from the tournament. He believes he has become a better player this season at Chelsea after captaining the team in the absence of Reece James and Ben Chilwell through injury. He has reached the Carabao Cup final and FA Cup semi-final despite Mauricio Pochettino’s side struggling for consistency in the Premier League.
“I think getting experience anywhere in football, whether it’s club or international, in some situations and competitions coming up with England, getting the experience I had in the two cup competitions with Chelsea and going as well long as we have. being in those positions will definitely help,” Gallagher said.
“I’ve had to step up and be a leader at Chelsea this season, which I’ve really enjoyed and I think that’s helped me develop more as a player as well.”
A ‘great’ start for Gordon
Although Southgate still has problems to solve in midfield, he has plenty of talent calling for places in his starting line-up. He was happy with Anthony Gordon’s start and told the Newcastle player that when he gave him away in the second half.
“He was saying, ‘wonderful’. He was very happy for me. I think he was happy with my performance and that’s always a good thing,” said Gordon, who is targeting a place at the Euros. His performance was positive during a game in which England lost firepower Harry Kane, who was ruled out of Tuesday’s friendly against Belgium.
“We need more killer instinct. I felt like we were the better team and we controlled the game but we just didn’t have that little bit in the third,” said Gordon. “Against a team like that, on the counter attack they’re going to get some chances over the 90 minutes. They did, they built their own.”
