Former Shrewsbury Town stopper Joe Hart still has England chance

Southgate picked Jordan Pickford in goal for Friday’s 1-0 friendly win in Holland and has opted for Jack Butland for tonight’s clash with Italy at Wembley.

But the England boss said Shrewsbury-born Hart, who has struggled for form during his loan at West Ham, has not been discounted.

“At the beginning of the week we decided to give both (Jordan and Jack) a game for the experience,” Southgate said.

“Joe’s professionalism has been brilliant with us. He’s always performed well for us, we had the best defensive record in Europe in qualifying.

“This week, even though he knew he wasn’t going to be involved in the games, he’s been a positive influence on the other players.

“It’s important that we have competition for places everywhere on the pitch, that breeds good performances. You need a clear understanding of how we want to play but then there’s the additional pressure of knowing you’ve got to play well to keep your place.”

Southgate reckons tonight’s opponents will present a tougher test than Holland did on Friday night.

“I’m not so sure they’re in so much of a state as people think,” the England manager said.

“They’re not at the World Cup because they were in Spain’s group. OK, there’s been some changes because that’s the consequence of not qualifying but they’ve got good players, the coach that’s in charge (interim boss Luigi Di Biagio) I’ve coached against him before. Italian teams’ detail is always good.

“They’ll press us with more intensity than we got pressed the other night and it’s a really good challenge for us to be able to play.”

Southgate urged the public to give his young squad time to develop.

“What we’ve got to do is allow this young team to perform,” he said. “There’s some super-exciting young players. The reason there has been a disconnect with the team is not because of what they’ve done. It’s because of what teams I played in did and historic stuff.

“We’ve got to give them the freedom to grow and improve and learn together. They don’t have 50, 100 caps (each). There’s still years ahead of them as a group and they can get better and better.”