The sub was changed after Luke Shaw’s late broadcast (Photos: Getty Images)

England manager Gareth Southgate says Phil Foden had no problem coming on as a substitute for Italy on Thursday night, just 11 minutes into his substitution.

The Three Lions played an excellent first half in Naples, taking a deserved two-goal lead through goals from Declan Rice and Harry Kane, with the captain becoming his country’s top goalscorer.

But they had to pull themselves together in a much more difficult second half, with debutant Mateo Retegui pulling a goal back just after the restart.

Foden came on as a substitute in the 69th minute as England tried to regain control of the game, but just 10 minutes later Southgate had to shuffle again when Luke Shaw was booked for two yellow cards within 54 seconds.

The England boss opted to sacrifice Foden and replace him with Kieran Trippier, but Southgate says the Manchester City playmaker fully understood the decision and later shared it with him.

Asked if he spoke to Foden to explain the move, Southgate said: “No, he came to me and said ‘I know, I understand’ – he knew exactly what we had to do.

Foden struggles to secure a starting role under Southgate (Picture: Getty)

“Of course you don’t want that, but we had to get the fullback.

“And we felt the change of form where they had to play around us but with enough bodies to handle crosses but full-backs to stop those crosses, that was the right thing to do.”

Declan Rice also received praise from his manager, with the West Ham skipper putting in a superb performance, particularly in the second half when England came under a lot of pressure.

Southgate continued: “Yes, Declan has put in a top performance in midfield. I thought he was Calvin [Phillips] and Judas [Bellingham]and given the experience level of the other team were excellent.

“We managed to put them under pressure. There were many periods where that was a very good team performance and often the midfield had to lay the groundwork to win second balls and then you’re on the attack and it’s an ugly period. But it was really important in the context of the game.’

England’s journey to Italy was arguably the toughest game of their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign and they left the team with all three points in hopes of winning again when Ukraine visits Wembley on Sunday.