MIDFIELDER Joe Ledley believes the return of star trio Craig Bellamy, Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale can transform Wales ahead of next month’s clash with England.

The Celtic man played the last 30 minutes in the 3-0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland in the Carling Nations Cup opener in Dublin on Tuesday night.

It was not the ideal start to Gary Speed’s reign as Wales manager but Ledley is a big fan of the new regime.

“Training has been much better, we all have respect for the manager and it’s been a good past couple of days but we’ve got to do much better on the pitch,” said the 24-year-old.

“We’re looking forward to the England game.. We know we need to improve on this performance but hopefully we’ll have people like Aaron, Gareth and Craig back, which would be a real boost.

“Rambo is doing well for Cardiff and it’s great to see him back because he was out for a long time,” added the former Bluebirds ace.

Despite Wales having slumped to 116th in the FIFA world rankings, Ledley is convinced that Speed can turn things around .

He said Wales can give England a good game in the Euro 2012 qualifier at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, March 26.

“To lose your first game 3-0 is not good obviously,” said Ledley.

“The manager just said we’ve got to keep our heads up. We only had a few days together and that wasn’t ideal.

“We’ll have longer to prepare for the next game and we’re looking forward to that.

“It’s going to be a tough game but it’s a great fixture to have and a great opportunity to show what we can do against some of the best players in the world.”

Reflecting on his first match as an international boss, Speed attempted to find the positives in defeat.

“(A fully fit squad) makes a difference, but it’s all about the players (in Dublin),” he said.

“And hopefully they can learn from what we've done and what they have done on the pitch.

“It's a gradual process and it's just a first step on the ladder to try and achieve something.

“I've got a while now before the England game.

Speed added: “We will be going through that and seeing what we need to do differently and hopefully we can improve.”