Southgate happy with 'punch and edge' in England attack

England Under-21s boss Gareth Southgate saw his side take a big step towards reaching the Toulon Tournament Final with a 4-0 win over Paraguay.

Goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek (2), Lewis Baker and Nathan Redmond proved enough to give England their third victory from three games in southern France.

And whilst the final score suggests a comfortable game for the Three Lions, head coach Southgate was pleased to see their South American opposition prevent a different kind of test.

"That’s exactly why we’ve come here, we’ve played against a team with tremendous spirit, with a real savvy approach to the game and it took us a while to work the game out," he said.

"We got caught in possession a couple of times which invited contact and duels and meant the referee had to make decisions, so quite often it was a difficult game for him to referee.

"When we were able to get the ball down and pass it and make use of the possession, we controlled the game but because Paraguay press as well as they do it was very difficult in that opening period.

"So, especially the first hour of the game, it’s been a fantastic experience for us."

Once Baker had opened the scoring shortly after the half-hour mark, the game opened up and that allowed Loftus-Cheek and Redmond to add three second-half goals.

And England’s attacking prowess in their games so far has been an added bonus to the results themselves following on from Monday's 7-1 win over Guinea.

"Our attacking play all week has had a punch and shown an edge to it," he added. 

🎥 Under-21s boss @GarethSouthgate chats to FATV after tonight's 4-0 win over Paraguay at #Toulon2016 https://t.co/cDzE3rhZeu

— England (@England) May 25, 2016

"And while I expected us to win the game tonight, the manner of the goals and the way we’ve taken them breeds confidence and shows we’ve got some good quality players."

Southgate admits he is likely to rotate his squad again on Friday when Japan are the opposition at the Stade Leo Lagrange in Toulon.

And with places up for grabs in Sunday’s Final, or third-fourth game, he’s happy with the way things have gone in terms of sharing out the minutes.

"We wanted everyone here to have two starts and we’ve definitely achieved that," he said. 

"And whatever happened tonight, we wanted to take the squad into Friday’s game knowing that it would be a valuable experience for everybody.

"We’ve got some competition for places as well, which is really important."