Gareth Southgate has been praised for giving young players the belief they can make a difference for England and has been urged to find room for Jack Grealish and James Maddison to add even greater creativity.
Former England striker Dean Ashton says emerging Three Lions talent now know they will be given the chance with the senior team if they show their quality for the under-21 side and their clubs.
He says that hasn’t always been the case with previous managers and that Southgate deserves the credit for transforming the national team into potential tournament winners by believing in his players.
“It's the sort of jolt that I think the English FA and the English setup has needed from Gareth Southgate and it's been surprising because it's come from within their structure,” Ashton told Goal .
“He was part of the youth set-ups and the under-21s and he's come through and done things differently to any other manager in that he's given the young players a chance. It used to be that matter how well you played in the under-21s you felt that might make no difference whatsoever.
“Since the start of his reign, it felt as if you were playing well in the Premier League, you were going to get your chance which it never really felt as if that was the case before because it felt like a closed shop.”
Southgate has turned young players such as Marcus Rashford, Jason Sancho and Trent Alexander-Arnold into England regulars and they played a significant part in taking the side to the last four of the Nations League.
But Ashton believes the side can sometimes be short of creativity and has identified Villa’s Grealish and Leicester midfielder Maddison as two players that can make a difference.
“If you look at Germany and Spain, the sort of template that they ended up winning the World Cup off the back of, was the young players doing well at youth level internationally and for their clubs, then, jumping up to the senior team almost as a group,” he added.
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“Having been through the experiences together to then be able to cope with the pressures that come with these massive competitions.
“In terms of the talents, I feel as if we have to have more creativity in midfield. We have to have Jack Grealish or James Maddison. They should both be in the squad - if not both in the team, when we can. They would be the standout players because midfield is the one area I think we're just lacking.
“With the players and the characte that we saw in the World Cup, if they can take that into to the European Championships, there's absolutely no reason why we can't win it. “
Southgate has also been praised for his level-headed handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which first saw friendlies cancelled and then the European Championship postponed for a year.
The former defender called for fans to work together to overcome the outbreak and former West Ham and Norwich forward Ashton was not the least bit surprised by his classy response.
“You look at being a manager and you expect that. But over the years we haven't necessarily felt as if we've had someone in charge who is like that,” he said.
“He is just a genuinely proper bloke with real integrity and morals and so he does things the right way. It's no surprise whatsoever to see him leading the way in this situation.”
The EFL is running a competition, with @QuestTV , for fans to vote for the EFL Goal of the Season so far and Ashton will recreate some in his garden. The final will be voted on this Friday from 2pm and you can vote for your favourite of the best three.
