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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Josh O'Brien

Gary Neville highlights key England advantage Gareth Southgate needs to exploit

Former England international -turned-pundit Gary Neville has explained how the Three Lions can boast the edge over a number of their opponents during the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Gareth Southgate's men got off to a flying start in their opening match of Group B, putting six goals past Iran - though they couldn't keep their opponents silent as Carlos Queiroz' s side bagged two second-half consolation goals when they three points were already in the bag for England.

A first England goal for Jude Bellingham and a Bukayo Saka brace either side of Raheem Sterling's expertly taken finish ensured Southgate's side enjoyed a healthy lead and in turn the 70th minute saw the Three Lions make a whole host of changes in a bid to ease some of the workload on the regulars and hand some much-needed minutes elsewhere.

Marcus Rashford was one of those substitutes and he netted England's fifth just minutes after coming on, while fellow substitute Jack Grealish capped of a dominant display by scoring the sixth for the current leaders of Group B.

Speaking on ITV, Neville highlighted England's strength in depth and encouraged Southgate to utilise the extraordinary talent he has on the bench at the moment during England's run to at long last get their hands on a second World Cup.

"That talent coming off the bench - Grealish, Rashford, (Phil) Foden - it is frightening what we've got," the ex-Manchester United right-back explained.

Goal-scorers Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford, as well as Phil Foden and Callum Wilson all proved to be inspired subs by Gareth Southgate against Iran ((Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images))

HAVE YOUR SAY! How far can England progress in this year's World Cup? Comment below

"You think about the Dutch - they're a good team but they don't have any strikers really or any forwards of note. Memphis Depay is not playing today. But we've got an abundance of talent up there.

"It's massive for Gareth today that he's been able to use so many players off the bench and they're all going to come off confident. The goals are absolutely outstanding.

"The pace of them in the middle. The speed. Gareth's got a real challenge to get all the talented players into the team and he got as many in today as he possibly could.

"He might have to adapt that moving forward but the pace we've got, the talent. If that can connect in this next couple of weeks, we can cause problems."

Up next for England is the undeniably sterner test of the USA, with the transatlantic rivalry coming to a head on Friday evening. The Americans go into the tie against Southgate's troops fresh off of a 1-1 draw against Wales on Monday night.

Another win for England would put them in a fantastic position in their bid to progress into the knockout round as group winners. The talent coming off the bench could have a big part to play yet.

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