England Vs Norway - Sat 11th 10pm

I thought I would start an individual thread for this match as this World Cup just got interesting. A brilliant performance against Mexico leaves us with a difficult match against Erling Haaland. Whilst it may be a bit much to cast them as a one man team I do feel if you asked neutrals who will win it may be around 50-50, possibly 60-40 for England, Were Haaland not playing I suspect that would got to 90% or more.

I would be tempted to resurrect the tactic from olden days of man to man marking, just sacrifice a defender to shadow him wherever he goes and try and limit him as a target. Kane is doing well and having a great tournament, but Haaland is different level. The good news is most of our players know him well and Stones will defend against him every week in training. I think we can make our overall class tell if Mexico hasn't taken too much out of us, but if we lose I feel sure it will be to goals from Haaland.

I was impressed with both Stones and Burn for us when they came on and feel they may have a part to play again, I am hoping we are really finding our stride now and if Pickford, Rice, Bellingham and Kane are on the form of Mexico we will be a huge challenge for Norway, even with their superstar striker.