Southgate confirms Butland but praises ‘professional’ Joe Hart

England’s 24 remaining players trained on the eve of the World Cup warm-up friendly against Italy.

Liverpool defender Joe Gomez pulled out of Gareth Southgate’s squad on Sunday through injury, following on from the withdrawals of Jack Wilshere and Ryan Bertrand.

There were no fresh issues with the rest of the squad, who were put through their paces at Tottenham’s training ground ahead of Tuesday’s friendly at Wembley.

Gareth Southgate confirmed that Jack Butland will start in goal for England against Italy on Tuesday.

Jordan Pickford got the nod for the 1-0 win over Holland on Friday, but Southgate said it had always been the plan for both goalkeepers to get a game each.

“At the beginning of the week we decided to give both a game for the experience,” Southgate said in a press conference.

“We’ve stuck with the plan right the way through with those decisions and there’s no reason to come away from that.”

Asked where the decision left Joe Hart Southgate said no decisions had been made regarding the World Cup this summer.

“Again, in lots of positions on the field we’ve got really good options and players that can go into the team and do well for us. We’ve got touch decisions further down the line. There’s a lot to play for.

“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 added of Hart: “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.”

Southgate reckons Tuesday’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.”