Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney handed concerning England training role as Southgate sticks to rigid Euro 2024 plan
OLLIE WATKINS and Ivan Toney were tasked with pretending to be Serbia in preparation for England’s opening game of Euro 2024.
The Three Lions narrowly beat Serbia 1-0 on Sunday with Jude Bellingham heading in the winner.
Gareth Southgate was characteristically pragmatic throughout the 90 minutes, with his three substitutions all like for like replacements.
That meant there was no chance for Watkins or Toney to get involved, with Kane kept on for the duration.
The strikers will likely struggle to get a look in because of Kane’s presence, and so far in Germany they have been tasked with testing out the England defence.
Both stars had to pretend to be Serbia in the days leading up to the clash, and neither has played next to Kane in a supporting role.
Asked if they had played alongside the England captain in training, Aston Villa star Watkins replied: “No, we haven’t.
“We’ve done a lot of tactical stuff, but it’s normally me and Ivan pretending to be Serbia.
“We weren’t too bad! Ivan makes a good Mitrovic and I was Vlahovic.”
Watkins and Toney both featured in the warm-up matches, with Watkins starting in the win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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And Watkins feels he could work well alongside Kane, similar to how Son Heung-min linked with the striker when they played for Tottenham together.
He added: “I would like to play with H, because he drops in deep. He can play the No 10 role and he picks up a lot of passes.
“I feel it would be similar to when he was at Tottenham and picking the balls up and playing it through to Son. But I know we’re blessed with a lot of talent in the No 10 role.”