Sterling

Well he contributed by scoring a pen in the game against Colombia and one in the shoot out. He also played very well against Sweden, he didn't score but he held the ball well and brought others into play.

 

Agreed about the penalty but to me in open play he seemed out of sorts. I’d liked to have seen welbeck given reasonable game time.

 

I think it's often the case that people want to give the alternative a go just for the sake of it. Kane is our best option up top. We look less threatening without Sterling. They are not perfect but we don't really have better options. The midfield seems the bigger problem and a area we need to improve or find a better balance. I'm not totally convinced playing both Ali and Lingard is the solution but again we may not have had better options.

 

Kane was superb against Colombia and Sweden. Perhaps the best display of hold up play I’ve seen for an isolated forward in those games.

Our lads did brilliantly. But if I was to highlight one area that needs to improve for us to go a step further the its the Alli, Lingard, Sterling roles. None of them contributed in the way you need to win a competition. They’ll improve and we have some great young talent coming through.

 

Think what this competition has shown is we need to add at least one'proper' midfielder

 

The midfield has been the weak link. Alli has not played anything like he does for his club. Henderson I'm not massively convinced about. Some excellent games, but a few poor ones. Lingard likewise was inconsistent. We lack a Paul Gascoigne, or a David Platt even.