13 June 2007
VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Nedum Onuoha

Nedum Onuoha says that playing alongside Gary Cahill made it easy for him in England's opener against Czech Republic.

England

v

Italy


2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Gelredome, Arnhem
7.45pm (UK time), Thursday 14 June 2007

Manchester City's Nedum Onuoha started in the centre of defence for England’s Under-21s on Monday night and says that he felt comfortable alongside Gary Cahill.

The Manchester City defender is regularly seen in full-back positions for both club and country, but revealed that in his early days he often played more a central role.

Onuoha collected his fifth Under-21s cap in the 0-0 draw and linked up with Aston Villa defender Cahill, the man he partnered when he first pulled on an England shirt for the U20s just over two years ago. He also scored the opening goal in the 2-0 win over Russia.

“Before I started playing right back for City I was playing centre back for the Academy,” he told TheFA.com.

“I was thrust into the right back position when I went into the first team, so it’s something I have done before but I just don’t do it very often now.

“I was lucky because I played with Gary Cahill again. When I made my debut for England at U20s it was him I played with then, so it was easier to get used to. I felt quite comfortable.

“I thought I could do better but I think everyone from the team is saying that. We stopped them from scoring, which is one thing, but we’re disappointed we didn’t score ourselves because we had a few good chances.

England face Italy in their second Group B game on Thursday night and Onuoha believes that England have to create more chances.

After scoring five in their previous fixture last week, they drew a blank against the Czechs and Onuoha says that they’ll need to get back to scoring ways.

“Although we didn’t create as many as usual, we still had a few. Maybe that is something we’ve got to work on before the next game against Italy.

“It’s a massive game for the two of us, obviously Italy lost on Monday, so it will probably be a game where there’s no holding back because both teams could really do with the win. It should be an open end to end game.