Gareth Southgate has given special praise to four of England’s unused substitutes after the Three Lions dispatched Ukraine 4-0 to progress to the semi-final of Euro 2020.
England continued their brilliant form at the tournament with a ruthless and dominant display in Rome as Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson all got on the scoresheet.
The result was in the bag when Kane netted his second of the night and that allowed Southgate to ring the changes, utilising all five of his permitted substitutions.
But a quartet of players – Ben Chilwell, Conor Coady and backup keepers Sam Johnstone and Aaron Ramsdale – have not been able to get on the pitch at Euro 2020 so far, though Southgate believes they are all playing important roles regardless.
‘The players have been fantastic and to play as well as they did in a game where there’s so much resting on it was really impressive,’ Southgate told BBC Sport after the win.
‘It’s a strange feeling. I’m actually at this moment just thinking about the lads we didn’t get on the pitch.
‘Because the likes of Conor Coady, Ben Chilwell, Sam Johnstone and Aaron Ramsdale, they are the ones that are making this team successful because the spirit of the group is phenomenal.
‘And whoever comes in does the job, and whoever isn’t in – which is really difficult to have to leave three out of the squad every time.
‘And the squad mentality has been fantastic, so at the moment that’s sort of uppermost in my mind of looking after those guys.’
He continued: ‘I’m spending more energy worrying about the three I have to leave out because they’re all good players. None of them deserve to be left out.
‘They’re all giving everything in training. None of it is because I don’t think they’re up to the level but we have to make the decisions.
‘We have to make the right call for the right game with the right system. All of the players have been brilliant, tonight all the way through the group they’ve been fantastic.’
MORE : England cruise into Euro 2020 semi-final as Harry Kane double helps see off Ukraine
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