I don’t think it matter who starts up front and they’ve got a chance of winning it, England have the best front six in the World Cup and any three from that six will give you a chance of winning any game in this side of the draw. It’s rest of the team you have to worry about.
It's key purely because he knows Harry Kane inside out. No matter how good the likes of Lingard, Loftus-Cheek and Rashford are, Dele Alli knows what Kane is all about playing with him week in, week out. Set pieces from Trippier also appears key at the moment.
Massively but was always gonna be the case, we haven't got a lot of dimensions to our play. We are relying heavily on set pieces and Harry Kane but **** it, other teams haven't either. Tonight will be a really close one but I think we'll edge it. If our back three keep Falcao quiet, whoever plays left back needs to make sure they're keeping up with Cuadrado and hopefully Rodriguez is half fit. Can't see their defence handing our attack so it all depends on how we are defensively.
It's going to be a real test for our young team but I think we'll have too much for them. I'm going for 2-1.
I would keep the side the same as the one that started vs Panama but start Vardy over Sterling as his pace and aggression could cause the inexperienced Colombian defenders all kinds of problems with his constant running and aggression. The only other thing I would alter would be to move Walker to the left side of the defence, I would do this as Colombia play Juan Cuadrado down the right hand side and he is rapid. Walker needs to be on the side he is playing down so he can use his pace to keep him with Cuadrado on the counter. In Colombia's game vs Poland, they won 3-0 and Cuadrado was MOTM and he was playing vs a back 3 up against a slow centre back most of the time as the Poland full back kept bombing on up the wing. We know our full backs push on so swapping Walker to that side could stop some of the threat down that side.
I admire your positivity but not quite sure I can agree we have the best front 6. Only Kane is really world class of our forward line, look at the chances we wasted against Tunisia We are good going forwards but heavily reliant on Kane and set pieces to score goals. I also worry about our defence - going to be tough tonight - we certainly have a chance to progress but Columbia are good. Only struggled against Japan because they had a man sent off in the 3rd minute so played almost the entire game with 10 men and still only lost by 1 goal. Extra time and pens a distinct possibility
I'd agree with that. Very tough one to call, but I'd back us by a whisker. Concede first and it could get very tough. If we start getting pulled out of position, they can really hurt us. That works both ways mind. As for Rodriguez - if he starts it probably means he's not fully fit, which never usually turns out well. Unless of course he was never as badly injured as they were making out, and it was all just a bit of psychology.
No it’s not just his understanding with Kane - it’s his reading of the game and ability to unlock defences that is as good as anything I’ve seen in the World Cup so far.
Not sure whether I get the logic behind that one! Surely they'll want him on from the very start? Can't see them using him as an impact sub in such an important game.
Ali is a very good player but id pick Lingard over him he's had a better domestic season and scored a cracking goal last time out. I don't like the balance in the side with this formation when they are both in the team at the same time.
Kane and the that’s it, Walker good attacking but left wanting defensively, Alli very good but not quite world class and Stones has potential but still some way off for world class
Completely agree- only Kane is world class. We don't need to have a team full of world class players though, we just need to play well as a unit. Other teams in the tournament have proved that.