Gareth Southgate has named his final 26-man England squad for this summer's Euro 2024, and the Three Lions boss reportedly has an interesting strategy in place to get the most out of what he has at his disposal.
Southgate's side warmed up for the tournament in Germany with two friendlies, the first of which was a 3-0 victory over Bosnia & Herzegovina.
But the preparations did not have an ideal conclusion after the Three Lions suffered a surprise 1-0 loss at the hands of Iceland at Wembley - the side which of course dumped England out with a shock loss at Euro 2016 in France.
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England are in Group C at this summer's tournament alongside Slovenia, Denmark and Serbia, with their first match against Serbia on June 16.
Four days later, Southgate's side take on Denmark, before the final group match on June 25 versus Slovenia.
Despite the Iceland friendly loss, England remain among the favourites to win the tournament, alongside France, hosts Germany, Portugal and Spain.
With a 26-man squad, Southgate has a large amount of talent to choose from, particularly in attack where England have an embarrassment of riches in the final third of the pitch.
Behind Harry Kane are fellow strikers Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins, while the wide areas have the likes of Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze, Anthony Gordon and Jarrod Bowen competing for a starting place.
Southgate will also have five substitutions at his disposal in each game, giving him plenty of opportunities to make changes within games in a bid to impact them.
And according to the Daily Telegraph, Southgate and his assistant boss Steve Holland have been paying attention to how players have behaved for their club and country, in a bid to influence how he uses his substitutes.
In particular, he has been looking at how they have reacted to being taken off or a substitute coming off the bench during games to help build mental profiles of each player.
Due to having five substitutes and an array of attacking talent, it is said the profiling of the players has been deemed very important and the ability for Southgate to freshen up his team without a reduction in quality in the forward areas.
It is hoped this will help improve England's chances of emerging victorious and going one better than they managed at Euro 2020.
Topics: England, Euro 2024, Gareth Southgate, Football
John McDougall