James McAtee scores twice to secure comfortable 3-0 win over Serbia for England U21s in Euros campaign as Young Lions bounce back from shock defeat to Ukraine in October

• McAtee, currently plays for Sheffield United, on loan from Manchester City
•  Lee Carsley’s U21s were defeated 3-2 to Ukraine in last month’s qualifiers 
• Southgate’s loyalty to his players is an issue and a weakness – It’s All Kicking Off

England Under 21s killed Serbian dark arts with smiles on Saturday night to re-energise their European Championship campaign.

James McAtee scored twice from long range and Harvey Elliot added a third to make sure Lee Carsley’s side bounced back from last month’s shock defeat by Ukraine.

Serbia, who had lost 9-1 against the Young Lions in October, were aggressive in attempting to unsettle the visitors in Backa Topola on what proved a feisty encounter.

‘We kept on going, just smiled back at them and kept doing our thing,’ Elliot said. ‘We take it as a compliment.

‘It was annoying because you don’t want to get booted, you just want to keep playing your football.

McAtee celebrates with Harvey Elliott after opening the scoring just five minutes into play

Elliott plays for Liverpool and represents the England U21 squad

Sheffield United’s James McAtee has been on loan from Manchester City since 2022

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‘They came with a game plan and tried to get in our heads. The boys are used to it. We had the talk about that pre-game, we knew they were going to do that – especially after the defeat against us last month. They wanted to change things and maybe that was their way.’

England remain three points behind Ukraine in their qualification group but Carsley was pleased with the response from his young stars.

‘We’re still trying to work out where this team and squad is going to go in terms of dealing with setbacks,’ he said.

‘We challenged them to start fast, be professional by keeping the ball and creating chances and I thought they did that really well. Speaking to them after, getting used to coming away to places like this and having to win is a really important part of their development.’

England U21 are currently top of Group C in their European Championship qualifiers 

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