Glenn Hoddle believes England will be feared at Euro 2020.
England are one of the bookmakers’ favourites to win the tournament this summer given the talent at manager Gareth Southgate’s disposal.
Hoddle insists rival countries will not be enjoying playing against England, with captain Harry Kane leading the charge and surrounded by exciting attacking talents such as Phil Foden, Mason Mount and Jack Grealish.
“We’ve got a chance,” Hoddle told talkSPORT at a Betfair event.
“There are quite a few countries who will be saying they’ve got a chance. The favourites will be France.
“But with England, we’ve got such an offensive side and a team that can be feared by our opponents.
“The slight problem for me is defensively as we all know. Harry Maguire, if he’s fit, will be a massive bonus.
“Gareth’s got some decisions to make defensively. Going forward, we should be really on the front foot in many ways.
“We’ve got players that a lot of countries will fear and would like to have in their team.”
Hoddle believes the key for Southgate this summer will to give his players a platform to take their club form into the tournament, as he had particularly high praise for Chelsea ace Mount.
The 22-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise from the multiple loan spells to European champion with the Blues, and Hoddle has been hugely impressed by his journey.
Is there more glory on the way?
“He went to Derby with Frank [Lampard] and Frank saw what he could do as a player, took him back to Chelsea and put him straight in the first team,” said the ex-Three Lions boss.
“The challenge, for me, and where he’s come through so good, is when [Thomas] Tuchel took over he didn’t play in the first game, he was on the bench and my eyebrows were up, ‘oh, we’re going to have to see how he responds here’.
“I remember the game, I was covering it, and he came on for the last 20 minutes and my word, it was almost like, ‘I’m proving myself all over again to a new manager’, and in that 20 minutes he set up two chances and had a chance himself that he nearly scored.
“It was almost like he hit the manager between the eyes and the manager then went, ‘wow I’ve got to look at this fella, I’ve got to play him and see what he can do’. He’s been in the side ever since.
“I think that says it all about Mason Mount, he’s got such good ability but he’s prepared to work for the team, he can play in a deeper role if need be.
“But he affects the game and he’s got to play like that for England.
“That’s where England and Gareth Southgate will get the best out of the likes of Mount and Foden, by saying, ‘these are your positions, you know how to play them, go and play them like you do for your clubs’.”
The pressure is likely to be on Southgate if England fail to have a successful Euro 2020 tournament.
Hoddle knows all about that pressure having taken charge of England after Euro ’96, when they reached the semi-finals on home soil.
Hoddle, who couldn’t lead England beyond the last 16 at the 1998 World Cup added: “It was a difficult, but it was good because England and the nation were on the front foot. Yes, it put a little bit more pressure on me as the manager.
“Going into the 1996 Euros, we played every home game at Wembley, there wasn’t an away game. It was relatively easy for the England team to bed down.
“We came close in the tournament, the semi-final against Germany could have gone either way.
“But then we had to qualify [for the 1998 World Cup] and go to Poland, Georgia and Italy, it was a totally different scenario to what the England team were used.
“So within the camp it was difficult and different. Plus also for the public, the pressure was on.
“Being England manager was a big task and you have to deal with the pressure. If you can’t deal with that pressure you shouldn’t be England manager.”
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