England manager Roy Hodgson has hailed Ross Barkley as an "outstanding talent" after the Evertonmidfielder's impressive cameo against Italy.
The 21-year-old replaced Theo Walcott after 55 minutes in Turin and shone as the Three Lions stretched their unbeaten run to nine matches with a 1-1 draw.
And Hodgson was full of praise for Barkley as well as goalscorer Andros Townsend after their excellent showings off the bench.
"He [Barkley] was fantastic. Both he and Townsend turned the game," he told ITV Sport.
"I thought Barkley in particular was really, really good. Very brave, very courageous. He's prepared to get on the ball all the time, to take people on. He really is an outstanding young talent.
"I've also go to say a word about Andros. He's come on and when we've needed someone to do something a little bit special, he's come up with the goods."
England captain Wayne Rooney admitted that another substitute, Michael Carrick, had been the best player on the pitch, and Hodgson agreed that the Manchester United midfielder helped his side get back into the game.
The former Liverpool boss did, however, have to defend his decision to start with Phil Jones in midfield ahead of Carrick, explaining that he just wanted to experiment during the friendly encounter.
"Michael did very well. That's Michael's position. We decided to experiment in the first half - give Phil Jones a go in there. He did very well defensively," he added.
Of course we do miss people like Carrick and [Jack] Wilshere and their ability on the ball to make us tick, to get our passing going. It was a bit of an experiment but we've got to do that in these games.
"The second half we had good control of the game and we played well and created some good chances.
"It was a very disappointing first half. The atmosphere in the game was dead. Both teams were guilty of falling into a practice match atmosphere. There was very little injection of pace so at half-time we weren't very satisfied with that.
"Second half we got back to the standard - we're setting high standards now - I thought we matched those second half."
The 21-year-old replaced Theo Walcott after 55 minutes in Turin and shone as the Three Lions stretched their unbeaten run to nine matches with a 1-1 draw.
And Hodgson was full of praise for Barkley as well as goalscorer Andros Townsend after their excellent showings off the bench.
"He [Barkley] was fantastic. Both he and Townsend turned the game," he told ITV Sport.
"I thought Barkley in particular was really, really good. Very brave, very courageous. He's prepared to get on the ball all the time, to take people on. He really is an outstanding young talent.
"I've also go to say a word about Andros. He's come on and when we've needed someone to do something a little bit special, he's come up with the goods."
England captain Wayne Rooney admitted that another substitute, Michael Carrick, had been the best player on the pitch, and Hodgson agreed that the Manchester United midfielder helped his side get back into the game.
The former Liverpool boss did, however, have to defend his decision to start with Phil Jones in midfield ahead of Carrick, explaining that he just wanted to experiment during the friendly encounter.
"Michael did very well. That's Michael's position. We decided to experiment in the first half - give Phil Jones a go in there. He did very well defensively," he added.
Of course we do miss people like Carrick and [Jack] Wilshere and their ability on the ball to make us tick, to get our passing going. It was a bit of an experiment but we've got to do that in these games.
"The second half we had good control of the game and we played well and created some good chances.
"It was a very disappointing first half. The atmosphere in the game was dead. Both teams were guilty of falling into a practice match atmosphere. There was very little injection of pace so at half-time we weren't very satisfied with that.
"Second half we got back to the standard - we're setting high standards now - I thought we matched those second half."
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