‘Pitbull’ Jay Stansfield ready to sink his teeth into Holland and fire England to Euro final, says Brooke Norton-Cuffy

BROOKE NORTON-CUFFY is desperate to see “pitbull” Jay Stansfield sink his teeth into Holland.

The 23-goal Birmingham City striker, 22, was finally let off the leash by Lee Carsley against Spain and handed his first tournament start.

Despite not getting on the scoresheet himself, he showed his bite is worse than his bark as his tireless display helped England U21s to a feisty 3-1 victory.

The Spanish defence could be forgiven for thinking they were up against a hound from hell as Stansfield battered and pressed them, covering 10.1kms, throughout his 85 minutes on the pitch.

And his team-mate Norton-Cuffy, 21, believes the hotshot is ready to take another chunk out of the Dutch in Wednesday’s European Championship semi-final in Bratislava.

Describing Stansfield’s performance, the Genoa full-back said: “Absolute pitbull. He was excellent and that just sums up the group really. Obviously he hasn’t played but you saw him out there.

“The main thing is when you’re not playing, don’t sulk about it too much. Come on and show why you should be playing. He’s come on and done that.

“On the ball he was good, he was running back and making challenges on their centre mids, on their centre-backs and he really, really helped us. He was excellent.”

Having underwhelmed in the group stages, holders England were sensational as they slapped the Spanish.

Though Norton-Cuffy insists that there is a whole lot more to come as Carsley’s men look to defend their Euro crown.

He said: “There’s loads. On Saturday you saw what we can do and what we’re capable of doing.

“We didn’t, I’ll say steamroll the group stage, there were a lot of ups and downs but you still saw glimpses of what we can do. It was just about being ruthless and putting chances in the back of the net. 

“We did that a bit better against Spain. We had loads of chances and it’s coming. We feel like we’re really gonna do well.”

He continued: “We knew what we were capable of and we still know what we’re capable of. The belief in the group is very high.

“We have a bunch of talented boys and we always stick together. I don’t feel us England boys go into any game feeling like underdogs because we know what we’re capable of.

“We’re good enough to go out and dominate every game we play. The belief is always there, we want to go out and win and it doesn’t matter who the opponents are, we’ll try and play our style and play attacking, exciting football and try to win.”

Norton-Cuffy is still waiting for his first start in Slovakia but has impressed in each of his three outings off the bench.

Though he claims that Carsley is a master of keeping everybody motivated, even those yet to get a kick.

The ex-Arsenal academy ace, who made 14 Serie A appearances for Genoa last season following his move from the Emirates, said: “He makes everyone feel involved. He’s very, very good at making everyone feel involved.

“In tournament football, you obviously bring a lot of people and everyone can’t play, but you know you’re still a massive part of it. 

“Towards the end of the tournament, you’re going to need everyone. We’re seeing that now, a lot of subs are coming on, playing and making a big impact and changing the game. He emphasises that a lot and for us just to stick together, keep our heads and he manages that very well.”