EX-ENGLAND assistant manager Gary Neville believes current boss Gareth Southgate is the team’s biggest asset at Euro 2020.
The national side began their tournament well with a 1-0 win against 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia at Wembley.
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Speaking during punditry on ITV, Neville said: “I think we’ve got an outstanding international manager who’s got unbelievable experience.
“I thought he managed that game unbelievably today. You talk about who the best player was, it might be Kalvin Phillips or Raheem Sterling but our biggest asset is our manager.
“The clamour in the past would have been to for Grealish and he didn’t even bring him off the bench.
“So, he’s willing to make the unpopular decisions, ones that some of us ultimately – at times – don’t think he should make because he knows that group better than anyone.
“He’s had seven or eight tournaments now, as a coach now, with the U21s, as a player.
“He’s vastly experienced and I feel really comfortable with him there – as an England fan – and what he did today was really good.”
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Neville, who was Roy Hodgson’s assistant between 2012 and 2016, endured a difficult time with England as they failed at the 2014 World Cup and subsequent Euros.
That management team was initially replaced by Sam Allardyce – but he resigned after just one match following allegations of corruption in September 2016.
U21 coach Southgate became the caretaker boss and eventually got the top job two months later – arguably the FA’s best managerial appointment since Terry Venables in 1994.
The ex-Middlesbrough manager has guided England to the semi-finals of the World Cup and Nations League – and his team have started their Euros bid with a win.
England’s next opponents in Group D are Scotland, who face Czech Republic at Hampden Park tomorrow in their opening match of the tournament.
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