Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has paid tribute to England boss Gareth Southgate’s management style, as the Three Lions prepare for a return to World Cup qualifying action.
The squad have been working at St. George’s Park this week ahead of Friday's trip to Malta, where they will look to take one step closer to next summer’s extravaganza in Russia.
And as Southgate closes in on his first year in charge of the senior team, Oxlade-Chamberlain believes the fresh approach shown by the former Middlesbrough and U21s boss and his staff is starting to pay dividends.
“It’s been really good and it’s a new insight into the way of doing things,” said Oxlade-Chamberlain.
“A lot of the way he works is similar to how he was with the younger teams and about development.
“Even with a senior team, there’s still a lot of developing that people can do, to keep learning and improving is something everyone can do and he’s brought that mentality with him.
“He trusts in the players to speak and voice their opinions to get everyone working together as a group and trying to give their own thoughts on how we think things can improve, which always helps.
“And he’s really big on working on all sorts of different areas like mentality, team togetherness as well as the obvious things like tactics and how the team is going to play.
“The whole environment has been really good, interesting and new. I think that’s what we were calling out for, and he’s definitely taken that on.
“We’ve still got a little bit to go and everyone knows that, so we’ve got to keep building on that and see what we can go on to achieve.”
At the moment, the only thing in mind for Oxlade-Chamberlain and his squad mates is securing their qualification for the World Cup.
And they know that it lies in their own hands with just four games remaining in September and October, starting with Friday’s game in Ta’Qali and then Monday’s match with Slovakia at Wembley.
“We’re in a strong position in the group,” added the 24-year-old.
“We just need to keep taking each game as it comes and we’re looking to qualify, as nothing else is acceptable in our minds.
“The best way to do that is to take each game one at a time and that starts with Malta.
“We need to get three points over there and we can’t take our foot off the pedal or be complacent in any game.
“If there are any slip ups, it will be tough and you can leave yourself in a sticky situation so we need to keep plugging away in every game and improving as a team.
“They showed at Wembley [a 2-0 win for England] how tough they can make it, but that’s international football.
“The key for us is to get an early goal and force them out so we can relax a bit more and stuff starts to flow a bit easier.
“So we need to be patient in these games, wait for the right moments to penetrate and when the chances come we need to be good enough to finish them and be clinical.”
