Exciting times ahead for 3 Lions as Southgate’s faith in youth repaid

Harry Winks v Spain
Photo: Sky Sports

Exciting times ahead for 3 Lions as Southgate’s faith in youth repaid

by Conor Dunford

England have come out of the UEFA Nations League with an enhanced reputation. A draw with World Cup rivals Croatia and a historic 3-2 win over Spain have ultimately managed to draw plenty of positive reactions from the English fans and media alike.

Southgate opted to take a youthful squad into this international break, with the likes of Jadon Sancho, Mason Mount and James Maddison making the cut, hoping to gain valuable experience of being in and around the international scene.

Many questioned his reasoning for this, with some even asking whether he was taking the UEFA Nations League, a new competitive tournament, seriously at all. With the likes of Dele Alli, Jesse Lingard and Danny Rose injured, it was those who have been previously on the fringes of previous quads who missed out, to make way for the youth. Jonjo Shelvey, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ryan Bertrand were left at home as Southgate looked to the future.

As it turns out, Southgate got far more than he had hoped from this inexperienced squad.

First up for the Three Lions was Croatia, as England hoped to exact revenge for that dramatic World Cup semi-final defeat in July. Despite both sides having their fair share of attempts, Croatia’s nine to England’s five, the game ended 0-0 and the points were shared in League A.

Southgate gave a debut to Ben Chilwell, the Leicester City left back who lined up alongside club teammate Harry Maguire in defence. The full back has been a consistent performer for the Foxes over the last few seasons, usurping title winning Christian Fuchs as first choice for the club.

Chilwell started both the fixtures in the UEFA Nations League, after being left as the only natural left back in the squad. He did nothing to show he could not make the left back spot his own in an England shirt. After contributing to a clean sheet against Croatia he was part of the side that put in a scintillating display against Spain. He went about his business in a comfortable, professional manner, coming up against some of the world’s finest talents in Iago Aspas and Marco Asensio.

With Ryan Bertrand seemingly out of the England picture, and Danny Rose suffering from lack of form and minutes at Tottenham. Chilwell’s audition to the international scene may have put him up against Manchester United’s Luke Shaw as his direct competition for that starting berth going forward.

There was a also a recall for Ross Barkley, who has spent many years in the England wilderness, after a slump in his career at Everton has been revitalised under Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea.

The Chelsea midfielder has seemingly found a coach who believes in his ability and is willing to work with him to improve as a player. Such has been his form for his club side, Southgate deemed him worthy of a call up, ahead of the likes of Loftus-Cheek who did travel to the World Cup in Russia the summer.

The highlight of Barkley’s performance against Spain, was the sublime ball over the top of the Spanish defence, which Harry Kane squared to give Sterling an easy finish and put England 3-0 up. Throughout England’s World Cup campaign and the qualifying period beforehand, there was significant criticism around the quality of the central midfield area, which was magnified after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a long term knee injury.

The resurgence of Barkley will give Southgate serious selection headaches for future squads, and will push Lingard and Alli to their limits if they want to retain their places in the England XI.

The UEFA Nations League may not appeal to everyone, and it may not solve the problems that international football has outside of major tournaments but Southgate has used this international break perfectly,  integrating new faces and reviving the careers of old ones to bring together England’s youngest ever squad and arguably their most exciting for a long time.

Chilwell and Barkley have impressed, whilst Sancho, Mount and Maddison yet to prove exactly what they are capable of. England come out of this fortnight with a newfound confidence, some future stars and four points on the table.