England central defender Chris Smalling needs to improve his communication and become the leader of the team's defence, according to former England captain Rio Ferdinand.
Manchester United defender Smalling was a stand-in captain for his club last season under former manager Louis van Gaal, and has played the full 90 minutes in both of England's games at the European Championship so far.
And Ferdinand, who captained both United and England, thinks that his former club teammate Smalling needs to seize the chance to impress at the tournament.
"It's an important tournament for Chris Smalling," Ferdinand told BBC Sport. "He's probably the first centre-half on the team-sheet.
"It's the time now for him to go in there and take the opportunity he's been given and become the leader in that back four.
"Communication is the biggest area for him to improve on. He's got to communicate and drag people around that back four to really be that commanding centre-half he really wants to be and I know he wants to be that."
England manager Roy Hodgson picked only three centre-backs for his squad at Euro 2016, with the others being Gary Cahill and John Stones.
