My thoughts on the England game..

First point: Ashley Young.. why play him at wingback? That's where he's played for the last couple of years at Manchester United and the season just gone is arguable his best yet. Southgate picked players on form and nothing else.. that's why he's there.

Second point: England may not have had their best performance to date, but something I saw in this side is something I haven't seen in an England side for about 20 years: They did NOT panic. When the penalty was conceded and converted, they carried on doing their thing knowing another chance would come. And it did.. several times, actually. Sure, they should have been out of sight by half time but they weren't.. they still didn't panic and on 91 minutes they got exactly what they deserved. It's frustrating and difficult to play against 10 defenders and a goalkeeper but they didn't let that get them down.

Third point: Nerves. The English main media are terrible for pinning hopes and blame on people. Take France 98 when Beckham received death threats for getting sent off against Argentina.. For such a young group of players, perhaps there were some nerves floating around to start with. This is their first competitive game as they are. They'll settle down now they have the first win under their belts. I'm not concerned, this England squad is young and exciting, I think they'll do ok.

Final point: second gear - I don't feel as though England had to get out of second gear. They have Panama next, then the big test where you will/should see a more polished performance against Belgium. Some may say that the second half performance was abject.. I think it was more professional than some may realise. It was common knowledge that the pitchside temperature was extremely high, why burn yourself out when you can pressurise without ruining the latter part of the tournament? Keep probing and you'll get your shot. No real injuries (Dele, perhaps?), a healthy squad going into games 2 & 3.

I would, personally, pretty much start the game against Panama with the same starting line up as which played Tunisia. I'd swap Dele for Loftus-Cheek and Sterling for Rashford but otherwise keep it the same. If we've qualified after that game, I'd rest some of the starters against Belgium with an eye on the last 16. That approach would also give the fringe players time to impress Southgate.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 4:

Costa Rica 0-1 Serbia
Germany 0-1 Mexico (WOW!)
Brazil 1-1 Switzerland

Day 5:

Sweden 1-0 South Korea
Belgium 3-0 Panama
England 1-0 Tunisia

Day 6:

Columbia 1-2 Japan
Poland 1-2 Senegal
Russia 3-1 Egypt

Day 7:

Portugal 1-0 Morrocco
Uruguay 1-0 Saudi Arabia
Spain 1-0 Iran

I believe Morocco and Egypt are the first two teams to be mathematically eliminated?

---