Southgate delighted with Riverside win - and almost settled on squad for the summer

Goals from Jesse Lingard, Nathan Redmond and James Ward-Prowse enabled England’s youngsters to twice come from behind as they claimed a 3-2 victory over a Germany side that will start as one of the favourites for this summer’s tournament in the Czech Republic.

The victory maintained England Under-21s’ 100 per cent record in Middlesbrough – a tally that now stands at seven wins from seven – and has bolstered confidence ahead of June’s European showpiece.

Two years ago, however, England’s Under-21s failed to win a single game in Israel after impressing in the warm-up, so while Southgate was delighted to enjoy a successful return to his former home ground, he will not be making any wild predictions ahead of the summer.

Nathan Redmond celebrates Pic: Chris Booth

“I’m really pleased,” said the former Middlesbrough manager. “But along with that we have to realise that there was good and bad on the night. Their response to twice going behind was very strong, and that part is pleasing, but there are elements which we were not pleased with and we’ve got to be better at.

“We weren’t as composed as we can be, and some of our passing was sloppy. We can play better than that, and some of that is about belief.

“We have recently played three teams going to the finals, and we can see how difficult it is going to be. We won the game, but we know there’s a lot to work to do and we know we can improve.

“I will show them the first 25 minutes of the game and that will keep everyone’s expectations in check, and the standard will go up again in the summer and it will be even more competitive again.

“A win gives us a lot of belief though, and I firmly believe we have to play more and more games against this level of opposition, to test ourselves against the very best.”

Having twice fallen behind to goals from Kaiserslautern striker Philipp Hofmann, England displayed commendable resolve to claw themselves back into the game.

Their attacking play caught the eye all night, with Lingard and Redmond threatening from a wide position and both Ward-Prowse and Jake Forster-Caskey performing impressively at the heart of midfield.

The majority of last night’s squad will be involved in this summer’s finals, and while Harry Kane will come back into the group despite his current involvement with the senior squad, Southgate does not envisage a whole host of players returning just for the tournament.

The likes of Raheem Sterling, Jack Wilshere, Phil Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are all still eligible for the Under-21s, but Southgate has already pretty much settled on the squad he wants to take to the Czech Republic.

“I’m reasonably clear on 21 of the 23, but there’s still a couple of places that people are playing for,” he said. “The most important thing is that I know whoever is going will be totally committed. There won’t be any loafing around or lads who feel it’s a chore to go.

Boro's Ben Gibson, No6, in action last night.

“I think there’s a real depth to this group now, which really excites me. I don’t think you can go to a tournament relying on just a couple of players, and we won’t be doing that. We started the camp with the likes of Raheem Sterling and Luke Shaw, but we’ve had to win games without these players and some new players have emerged.”

Southgate reserved special praise for Middlesbrough centre-half Ben Gibson, who played for 70 minutes in front of his home crowd despite having been a slight injury concern at the start of the week.

“It’s not always easy to play on your home ground,” he said. “I remember doing it in the Slovakia game at senior level, and you almost put yourself under more pressure.

“He’s not trained much because he had a slight problem at the start of the week, and that’s not easy for a game at this level.”