Phil Neville challenges young players to step up for England

England Women's football team manager Phil Neville has thrown a challenge to the younger players of his team to step up their gameplay in the upcoming games. While naming the squad for the prestige friendly game against Germany to be played at the Wembley stadium, Neville said that the effort required from each player at an international level should be more as compared to the effort they put while playing their league matches.

"Team will enjoy the challenge"

The England manager is of the opinion that his team will enjoy the challenge but he has maintained that after selecting young players in the team following the World Cup, he has resorted to the means of drafting only 4 players under the age of 23 in a squad of 21 players. 

A 1-0 win against Portugal ended England's five-match losing streak and Neville believes that this win will put the team under the spotlight. Neville said that he did not feel the pressure ahead of the match with Germany and his managerial experience over the past 3-4 games tells him that his players need to play such games to feel the pressure and perform to help their team win. He further added that the players are going to thoroughly enjoy the match as they will be playing against the second-best team in the world.

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"There are certain games that just need to be won"

Neville also said that there a few games where both the players and managers have to play football really well and win the games. He said that they worked really hard in growing as a team but certain matches are just meant to be won and the game against Germany is a game where they need to perform as well as play our best football. 

Phil Neville stated that the senior players in the squad are the ones who are still playing well and performing in matches but the young ones have still a lot to learn and become better football players in order to match up to the levels of a Steph Houghton, Lucy Bronze or an Ellen White.

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A massive push to strive for the best

Neville talked about the central defender, Leah Williamson and said that she was one player who needed a massive push to strive for the best. He talked about how they had to act really tough on her and because of that she is now becoming a top player. He also said that it was his job as England's manager to be completely honest with his players and tell them the brutal truth so that they can work on themselves and be a strong support to the team.

England next plays against Germany in a friendly match on November 9 at the prestigious Wembley Stadium.

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(With inputs from agencies)