Gareth Southgate reckons England have the best strike force in the world.
But the England boss believes his front three of Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford are the ones he has to convince because they do not understand how good they are.
Southgate says that while the likes of World Cup holders France have Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann, England have a better set of forwards to compare against any team.
Southgate said: “I think that they’re as exciting as anything.
“I remember going to Spain and thinking that’s a really tough game, but actually, our front three compared to their front three on the night. I thought that we were strong.
“I think they possibly don’t (believe how good they are), because they sometimes don’t view themselves as others do. We have also got to remember that as a coaching team.
“Very often you work with the team and it’s easy to find what they can’t do well.
“I think whenever we’re judging games, all of us look at what hasn’t gone well. Sometimes you can overlook the brilliant things that they do, that maybe other countries don’t have.”
But Southgate was more complimentary about Kane and Sterling than Rashford who he clearly still thinks has work to do to reach his full potential.
Rashford has often played wide for Manchester United , has been made the main man this season at Old Trafford and yet it is clear Southgate feels he is not the complete striker yet.
Southgate insisted 21-year-old Rashford must do more to be the complete player like Kane and Sterling and work on his hold-up play, getting in better areas and behind defences.
Southgate said: “I think Harry [Kane] and Raheem [Sterling] have proven now season after season. I think we’ve all got little to prove, at the very elite level.
“Marcus is still a relatively young player, who over the last 12-18 months with us has had a big impact on our games, high number of goals and assists. So, he’s still, I think, a work in progress.
“I think he can threaten teams in behind more. When he opens his legs and he runs in behind defences I think that’s the last place they want to be. His run for the penalty that’s what you want to see.
“For a long time I almost wanted Marcus [Rashford] to be that option as a nine. I’m still not certain that that is where he is happiest and where he does his best work.
“A lot of his development at United was as a ‘wide raider’ and I think he isn’t as strong as Harry with his back to goal and holding play up, so if he plays as a 9, he will play it differently to Harry, but a lot of his best work is in that inside left channel coming in off the line.”
