Gareth Southgate has warned his England players that nobody should feel safe about their positions after a day of extensive changes that saw him axe Alex Oxlade‑Chamberlain from his latest squad as well as potentially ending the international careers of Daniel Sturridge and Jermain Defoe and announcing that Chris Smalling was also out because the Manchester United player was not good enough on the ball.

In a series of difficult early morning telephone calls, Southgate dropped a total of seven players on the back of his comments at the previous England get-together that there were people in his squad who had not necessarily justified their inclusions and were lucky to be involved.

With a number of players returning from injury for the forthcoming friendlies against Germany and Brazil, it is clear now who Southgate meant after a ring-round that also included hard-luck calls to Jake Livermore, a player the England manager has previously championed, as well as Fraser Forster and Aaron Cresswell.

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Southgate began by telling Oxlade-Chamberlain he was being left out because of his erratic form since joining Liverpool and made it clear the player needed to start more games for his new club if he wanted to be involved in the World Cup next summer. Southgate’s explanation for Sturridge’s omission was along the same lines – “I don’t remember the last time Daniel had 90 minutes,” he later explained – but the “toughest call”, according to the England manager, was to Smalling bearing in mind the reasons for leaving out a player who, until now, has been a regular whenever he has been fit.

“We want to play a certain way,” Southgate said. “We want to see the players we’ve brought in using the ball from the back and building up in a certain way. I have huge respect for Chris and he’s obviously at a big club. I think he can [play that way]. But we have players like John Stones, Eric Dier and Harry Maguire who are even better.”

Instead, Southgate has brought in Joe Gomez for the first time as well as asking Tammy Abraham, the Swansea City striker, to fill the void left by Sturridge’s absence and calling up Ruben Loftus‑Cheek even though the Crystal Palace player is yet to appear on a winning side this season. Gomez has been playing at right-back for Liverpool but Southgate regards the 20-year-old as another centre‑half – describing him, in stark contrast to his analysis of Smalling, as someone who “can use the ball”.

England now have 13 players aged 24 or below, and six who are 21 or under, even with Ashley Young rejoining the squad on the back of his impressive recent form for Manchester United and hoping to make his first international appearance since September 2013. At 32, Young is now the oldest player in the England squad and Southgate said he did not envisage any lingering issues after the player’s clash with Dele Alli during United’s game against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend. “In terms of an on-field confrontation, it seemed fairly good-natured – both players laughing and smiling, giving each other some verbals,” Southgate said. “That has always been part of the game. You expect the players to fight for their club and fight for their shirt and when they come together they are fighting for England. I don’t see it as any issue at all.”

England play Germany at Wembley next Friday, followed by Brazil’s visit four days later, but the bad news for the players who have been left out is that they then have four months to wait until the next international break.

The Football Association has arranged games against Holland in Amsterdam on 23 March and another friendly against Italy at Wembley four days later and Southgate said all of his players were vulnerable if they lost their club places. “I don’t think anybody can sit back and safely think they’re going to be involved next summer. In every position on the field there’s really strong competition. If I had to do it tomorrow [pick a squad] I’d know who I’d take, but over the next six months that could evolve drastically.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tammy Abraham (right) has earned his first senior call-up after impressing on loan at Swansea this season. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

Southgate’s thinking is largely based on what he told the players soon after taking the job, namely that they should not expect to be involved with England if they were not playing for their clubs. He has made an exception for Danny Rose now the Spurs left-back is fit again and Jesse Lingard has been given the benefit of the doubt.

Yet the message for Jack Wilshere was clear. “I don’t know how you get in the England squad without getting in the Arsenal team,” Southgate said.

On the same theme, it is not easy to see how Sturridge can find a way back given his limited involvement at Liverpool while the problem for Oxlade-Chamberlain is intensified because of Southgate’s desire to operate with a 3-4-2-1 formation. “He suffers slightly from the change of system,” Southgate said. “With the way we want to go, he becomes a possibility as a wing-back, but Kieran Trippier has been outstanding for Spurs and Kyle Walker has been excellent for Manchester City. If we play Alex just off the forwards, we already have Alli, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling. There’s real competition for places in those areas of the pitch. I like Alex and he’s a good player. He’s having to adapt to new training, and a new way of playing, at Liverpool and I’m sure he’ll come through that.”

With Rose back from injury and Harry Winks called up to join Dier, Alli, Trippier and Harry Kane, Spurs will be represented by six players – a quarter of the squad – when England check into St George’s Park after the weekend fixtures.

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Southgate was in the crowd to see Spurs beat Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday and, though encouraged to see so many English players thriving against elite opposition, he was conscious that the atmosphere at Wembley was never that impressive when England were playing. “The fixtures haven’t necessarily helped,” he said. “I don’t think the qualifying fixtures excite people. They’re games against countries that we are expected to beat, rightly so, and then how many we score dictates whether it’s a good performance or not. When Real Madrid come to town, it’s a different feel. And when we play Germany and Brazil, it’s a different feel again.”

England squad

Tammy Abraham (Swansea City, loan from Chelsea), Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Jack Butland (Stoke City), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Joe Hart (West Ham United, loan from Manchester City), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Crystal Palace, loan from Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Leicester City), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur), Jamie Vardy (Leicester City), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur), Ashley Young (Manchester United).