Gareth Southgate claims benched Tottenham player ‘as good as anybody’

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Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Winks will be looking to start for England against Montenegro tonight.

Gareth Southgate claims Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks is ‘as good as anybody’ at producing the goods with the ball when being highly pressurised by opponents.

Winks, who is currently on the bench for Spurs, has been called up for England’s up and coming qualifiers as he will be looking to start their clash against Montenegro tonight.

Last time out, Winks replaced West Ham midfielder Declan Rice in that number six role for his country and he will be looking to keep his place ahead of the Wembley clash.

Speaking to Sky Sports News (13/11/2019 at 4:40 pm), Southgate heaped praise on the talents Winks has got in his locker, but he did admit that the ‘problem’ with him is him not playing as much as he would have liked him to recently.

“He’s a different type of midfield player to someone like Declan or an Eric Dier, who have played in that single pivot for us before,” Southgate told Sky Sports. “He’s probably as good as anybody in the country at receiving [the ball whilst being] tightly marked. Awareness of pressure.

“A lot of the pivots that play in England are converted centre-backs. He is somebody who has learned his trade as a midfield player from when he was very young, so he’s a different type.

“At the time, he’s not in Tottenham’s team, so that’s not perfect for us but I’m sure he’ll work his way back into that and I think the way that he played in Bulgaria, I think that’s what he’s capable of. He moves the ball quickly and his speed of moving the ball, especially against opponents who are going to be hard to break down.”

Winks has been in and out of Tottenham’s squad in recent times, but it seems as though he has returned back into the starting XI at the right time.

Euro 2020 is only around the corner and Southgate is looking for players to cement their place in the side, as his team will be one of the favourites for the competition.

Danny Rose and Harry Kane could be the other Tottenham players starting for England, with the latter a certainty to start and the former hoping to keep Ben Chilwell out of the side.