Tom Fellows preparing for Spain after making England Euros bow
Albion winger Tom Fellows has sights set on helping England to glory against Spain after making his European under-21 Championship bow.
Fellows came off the bench in the second half of Wednesday’s 2-1 group stage defeat to Germany in Slovakia for his first action of the tournament.
The Young Lions were two goals down when Baggies ace entered the fray in the 64th minute but while Bournemouth’s Alex Scott found the net to reduce the deficit, they were unable to find a leveller in the closing stages.
Germany’s victory meant they topped Group B with England instead having to settle for second place and a rematch of the final from two years ago against Spain on Saturday evening.
Fellows will hope to be involved as Lee Carsley’s men aim for a repeat of their victory on that occasion, which saw England win the under-21 Euros for the first time since 1984.
Wednesday night was the 21-year-old’s third under-21 cap, after he made his debut in a 0-0 draw with Northern Ireland last September.
Fellows, who made 46 appearances for Albion, initially travelled to Slovakia as a training reserve but was promoted to the full squad when Jobe Bellingham completed a transfer from Sunderland to Borussia Dortmund and headed off to play at the Club World Cup for his new team.
Carsley has acknowledged the Young Lions will need to improve if they are to progress past Spain after criticising the way his team started the match against Germany.
The defending champions found themselves 2-0 down inside the opening 33 minutes through goals from Ansgar Knauff and Nelson Weiper, with Carsley later suggesting his team had suffered from “shell shock” in the opening half.
Villa wideman Samuel Iling-Junior was handed his first start of the tournament at left-back but was replaced at half-time after a difficult evening up against the lively Knauff.
Carsley believes slow starts are becoming a concern after his team were also slow out of the blocks in Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Slovenia.
"I thought there was definitely a bit of shell-shock, going 2-0 down so soon," said Carsley. "We didn't start well either in the last game against Slovenia. That's something we need to address."
He continued: "The first half was nowhere near good enough. The way we started the game, the goals that we conceded were really disappointing.
"It was important they knew that. The changes we made at half-time, [we] could have made any number of changes. I asked for a reaction in the second half and we definitely saw a reaction.
"The performance was not at the level we need. When you think of the reaction in the second half that was more like it. It took us to go 2-0 down to get to that point which is disappointing."
Villa left-back Ian Maatsen will also be involved in quarter-final action on Saturday after the Netherlands defeated Ukraine 2-0 to secure their progression from Group D. They now take on Group C winners, Portugal.
