Roy Hodgson’s faith in young English players has been boosted following the Three Lions’ perfect Euro 2016 qualification campaign.
England made it a perfect 10 on Monday night when they beat Lithuania 3-0 in Vilnius.
For the first time since the current qualification format was adopted, England qualified for a major tournament without dropping a point.
A number of injuries meant Hodgson had to rejig his side for the game in Vilnius. The team had just 140 caps between them and only one player – Phil Jagielka – was over 30 years old.
Hodgson has used a number of young players – Dele Alli became the latest this month – in qualification and the England manager has been pleased by what he has seen.
“It’s quite incredible for the players to give that sort of performance in their first appearance or after just a few games,” Hodgson said.
“It does give me great heart that we do have quality players coming through in this country, and if and when we get the players back that helped us in the start of the campaign we will have quite a strong squad to choose from.
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“These players in Vilnius, I am sure they will feel they have done enough to keep their names in the front of my thinking and that is all I can ask from them.”
Of the best young performers in the last two games, Ross Barkley has to be the pick of the crop. The 21-year-old was named man of the match after setting up
Theo Walcott for his goal in the 2-0 win over Estonia on Friday and in Lithuania he scored a stunning long-range effort to set the visitors on their way to a 3-0 win.
“Ross Barkley had an excellent game at Wembley, we were really pleased to see him continue in that fine form and the form he has been showing at Everton,” Hodgson said.
“I know Everton have been really happy with his performances.”
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has only started two Premier League games for Arsenal this season, but he took his goal well and Hodgson was happy for the Gunners winger to get some minutes under his belt.
“With Alex it’s always a case of how much football does he get?” Hodgson said. “He doesn’t always play in the Premier League so it was nice he could get 90 minutes and that has given him the chance to get some football under his belt and when he plays he shows the talent for which we select him.”
