John Terry believes Phil Jones & Tom Cleverley will have no problem making step up to England squad

Defender thinks Three Lions must improve to guarantee qualification to Euro 2012 in next two games and reckons Raul Meireles will be a great player for Chelsea after transfer

Sep 1, 2011

Chelsea defender John Terry believes Manchester United youngsters Phil Jones and Tom Cleverley will have no problem adapting to the England set-up.
“They are from a very big side, so they’ve come into the England set-up and felt very comfortable," Terry told reporters. "They are very assured of themselves as well and rightly so because they’re huge talents and certainly good for the future of the England side because they have an awful lot to give."
Three Lions manager Fabio Capello selected the uncapped pair to face Bulgaria and Wales following promising performances in the Premier League for the Red Devils at the start of the season.
The England captain believes that their experience thus far will stand them in good stead.
“You don’t go into the Manchester United side if you’re not ready," said Terry. "They’ve shown some great individual performances and collectively also at Man United so clearly they’re ready. I don’t think age comes into it at all you need to be given opportunities and if that comes around tomorrow good luck to them because they are certainly ready.
Terry believes it is vital that England get back to winning ways against Bulgaria and Wales after drawing to Switzerland in its last group game.
“I think it’s very important," said the defender. "I was looking forward to the Holland game which didn’t go ahead but I think we drew the game against the Swiss I think we all realised as players that we didn’t play to our potential. It’s very important in the next two games that we pick up six points and put ourselves in a very good position in the group.”
The defender thinks qualification should be attained before anyone thinks about the European Championships themselves, but believes England could have a good blend in its squad if it reaches the competition.
“Ideally, first and foremost we’d like to qualify and put ourselves in that position," he continued. "Hopefully we can go there with some young players with an awful lot of games under their belts and a little bit more experience as well. That mixture of the young and the old, that we always speak about, could do us good in such a big tournament.”
The match is slated for 2:30 p.m. ET on Friday.