Last Sunday England made a positive start to the UEFA Under 19 Championship with a 3-2 win over Austria. Ahead of Wednesday's group stage clash with Holland, ManUtd.com called Reds midfielder and Three Lions skipper Matty James at the squad's hotel..

How do you feel the first game went, personally and as a team?
For me it was good to get 90 minutes under my belt to blow the cobwebs away. I think the team felt that as well. Come the hour mark, a few of us started to drop off a little bit. We didn’t put as much pressure on the ball as we should have and hopefully for the Holland game we’ll be a little bit fitter and that little bit more aware of what we want to do. But in tournament football it’s obviously a great result to get three points from your first game.

How do you feel the first game went, personally and as a team?
For me it was good to get 90 minutes under my belt to blow the cobwebs away. I think the team felt that as well. Come the hour mark, a few of us started to drop off a little bit. We didn’t put as much pressure on the ball as we should have and hopefully for the Holland game we’ll be a little bit fitter and that little bit more aware of what we want to do. But in tournament football it’s obviously a great result to get three points from your first game.

What do you need to improve on against Holland?
I think collectively our defensive shape was a bit all over the shop at times, there were times when we didn’t keep the ball well enough and also we didn’t press the ball as high as we should have in the second half. Those are the three main things. If you press the ball high up the pitch and you win the ball, then you’ve then got strength in numbers to keep the ball in their half rather than your own. Those are the things we need to improve on.

Holland have a long history of developing top young players – how big a challenge do you have on your hands?
I think it’s a massive challenge for us, but I think it’s a bigger challenge for Holland. They’re bottom of the group on goal difference at the minute, so they’ve got to come into this game all guns blazing – they’ve got to get a win. If we can hold out, withstand the pressure and then put a lot of pressure on them, I think we’ll come out on top.

How big an honour is it for you to be England captain?
It’s massive for me, personally. It’s great for anyone who captains their country, at any level, but my family and I are very proud that I'm representing England at an international tournament. All I can do is try to put aside the emotions and feelings and hopefully lead the side to a victory over here.

What do you think of the state of youth football in England?
I think it's positive. With the World Cup that’s just gone there are a lot of eyes on this tournament, as people want to see the youth that’s coming through for England. People looked at the German side at the World Cup containing so many young players, then looked at England's squad containing several players who are unlikely to play at the next World Cup because of their age. People are looking for the next generation of players in the English game.

Are the players all thinking that way?
Yeah, there are possible shirts available for the next level, the under-21s, so I think players are maybe starting to think about that. But at this moment in time I think we’re just focusing on the under-19s, and if we can play well and things happen from there then that’d be a great bonus.

Who are the ones to watch in your squad?
There are a few of us who’ve been together over a long period of time, from the under-16s. That’s the likes of Nathan Delfouneso of Aston Villa, Matthew Briggs from Fulham, and then there have been a couple of new additions over the last year like Nathan Baker from Villa, Reece [Brown] from United and it’s a quite technical group. There’s also Frank Nouble who joined West Ham from Chelsea. He scored twice against Austria. So there are a few players to watch.

What constitutes a typical day for the squad?
It depends. Yesterday for the 11 starters against Austria, we woke up, had some breakfast, had a little walk to the pool and a recovery session, then rest for the rest of the day, then a chance to have a walk around Le Havre, and at night we analysed the game. We went through what we need to improve on, what we did well, set pieces and such. That’s a typical day after a game. Today [Tuesday] we had a meeting with UEFA about doping control and match fixing, so UEFA are giving us help in all those kinds of areas. We then rested until mid-afternoon and went out for a training session ahead of the Holland game.

Do you get much social time?
It’s different. There’s a lot of downtime where you have to rest. I don’t think they want you going out all the time because it just wastes your energy. We socialise among ourselves in the hotel. There’s a games room where we can play table tennis and stuff like that, but for me it’s pretty much about sitting in my room and watching DVD box sets. I’ve started 24 but I’m a bit behind at the minute, I’m on season three, so I’m just trying to catch it all up with the time I’ve got here. There are something like eight series to go through, so I've got a way to go!


Source: Manutd.com