Euro 2016: Gareth Bale will be Wales’ main weapon and England must get men around him to stop him
German football legend Lothar Matthaus reveals some excellent tips to send Three Lions on their way to victory
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GARETH BALE will be the biggest threat to England’s goal on Thursday.
The Welsh wizard is Chris Coleman’s star player and is ready to inflict some damage on the Three Lions after a series of barbed comments between the two camps.
But can Roy Hodgson’s lads stop Real Madrid ace Bale?
SunSport columnist and Germany legend Lothar Matthaus reveals how the two-times Champions League winner can be nullified…
WALES have one system of playing and that isn’t going to change.
It’s all about staying tight and compact and then waiting for Gareth Bale to get on the ball, either from a long pass or dropping in to pick up possession and turn.
Bale is the man, the leader, the face of Wales. And when you have a player like him, you know he can do something at any stage in the game and that gives you a good feeling. England know that too and must make Bale the meat in the sandwich.
Every time he drops in to get the ball, Eric Dier must get tight on one side and Adam Lallana, the full-backs or Dele Alli on the other.
If he has two people around him he can’t go anywhere.
Then, if Wales try to go long it’s down to Gary Cahill.
BEFORE the Russia game I said Kyle Walker would be a key player for England and I think his performance showed that was right.
Walker will have the same job today and when Adam Lallana goes inside he will have the room to get in and attack the space behind Neil Taylor.
You could see against Slovakia that the left side was Wales’ vulnerable flank and that is the area England must look to target.
The Spurs right-back showed how good a crosser he is and he played very well in Saturday’s 1-1 draw, working up and down both in attack and defence.
And the pair of them can double up, with Lallana creating the room by driving in off the flank and Walker using his pace to create that overlap going forward.
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THE thing that struck me in the Russia game was that Harry Kane did not look fit.
He seemed a bit tired but the biggest problem was that he was far too alone.
Nobody was supporting him and he was up against the central defenders. So when the ball came in he suddenly had to beat two or three men.
If there is another striker it makes it easy for the lead man to make the killer runs. You know you can go to the front post and the other man will go to the back. But if you are alone, you have to think about whether to go short or long, rather than doing it instinctively.
If it’s an automatic response, the sort of thing Kane has been doing for two seasons at Spurs, you get that half-yard ahead of the defender.