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Rio Ferdinand believes Gareth Southgate is denting the confidence of Chelsea defender Levi Colwill by continuing to pick Harry Maguire for England.<\/p>\n
Chelsea news, exclusives and analysis<\/p>\n
Maguire has played just 23 minutes in Manchester United\u2019s first four Premier League but started alongside Marc Guehi in England\u2019s 1-1 draw with Ukraine on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Southgate is under pressure to drop Maguire, who was stripped of the United captaincy by Erik ten Hag in the summer, due to his lack of playing time.<\/p>\n
And Ferdinand believes Colwill will be among the England centre-backs who will feel that they do not have full backing from Southgate.<\/p>\n
\u2018If England was on a knife-edge situation I\u2019d get it, but they\u2019re going to qualify, they\u2019re the best team in their group by a mile,\u2019 Ferdinand said on Vibe With Five when asked about Southgate\u2019s decision to pick Maguire.<\/p>\n
\u2018My biggest concern would be the confidence and the morale of other players in that position. He\u2019s basically saying he\u2019s got no other centre-halves he can trust at all.<\/p>\n
\u2018John Stones, who is the best England centre-half at the moment, is injured. Marc Guehi comes in, he just seems to be able to step up to every level he gets asked to step up to, he steps up comfortably.<\/p>\n
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\u2018Maguire hasn\u2019t played and he\u2019s probably sitting there going, \u2018thank god Gareth Southgate is manager because no one else would play me like this\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018I think for the other players, they must be sitting there going, \u2018wow, that\u2019s unbelievable to see someone who doesn\u2019t play a minute of football, doesn\u2019t start for their club, comes in and wears the England badge\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018It used to be like you had to perform miracles at your club, over a long period of time, to warrant a call-up, let alone a start. And that seems to have changed massively.<\/p>\n
\u2018If I\u2019m one of the other young centre-backs \u2013 [Lewis] Dunk, what he\u2019s doing at Brighton by the way, new manager, the way they\u2019re playing football, he\u2019s the captain of that team, he\u2019s probably sitting there thinking, \u2018if I can\u2019t get a game now, I might as well just throw it in\u2019.<\/p>\n
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\u2018You\u2019ve got Levi Colwill coming through, a young player. I was that young guy once, if there\u2019s people in my way you aren\u2019t playing [for their club], I\u2019m thinking, \u2018wow, he obviously doesn\u2019t rate me\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018Even if it\u2019s only a smidgen of a per cent, that\u2019s enough to knock you off your game confidence-wise, when you go to an England camp, you\u2019re sitting there at training thinking, \u2018I know he [Southgate] doesn\u2019t rate me, because the proof is in the pudding\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018I can\u2019t get my head around how you say it\u2019s because we\u2019re lacking a bit of experience, I can\u2019t understand that as a young defender myself when I was one.<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t even think [Fikayo] Tomori is the biggest one, he\u2019s just one of a cluster. There is a group of them right now, Colwill, Guehi and Tomori.<\/p>\n
\u2018The biggest thing for me is Gareth doesn\u2019t know how good they are at this level. They can do what they want at club level but once you get the opportunity to play at international level it\u2019s a different type of football, different style, different pace. Until you\u2019re tried and tested and given a chance to play some games you\u2019re never going to know, so when are we going to find out how good these guys are?<\/p>\n
\u2018If Stones or Maguire go lame in a tournament and these guys get thrown in at the deep end? Is that when you\u2019re going to find out because that\u2019s not the right way to prepare for a tournament, you want to know what these guys have got, can they perform, there are points on the line, under pressure with the Three Lions on your chest, it\u2019s a bit different.<\/p>\n
\u2018Guehi has done well but there are others there, give them the opportunity, give them a chance, I just think the message it sends to the rest of the squad can\u2019t be right.\u2019<\/p>\n