England face France in the quarter-finals of the World Cup at 7pm tonight, and it’s always fascinating to get the thoughts of someone who has not only worked within the FA set-up, but who has taken a team to an equivalent final within the age groups at international level ahead of the game.
“I hope it’s going to end with me celebrating an England win tonight,” manager Paul Simpson said. “But let’s make no mistake, it’s going to be a tough game.
“You look at France’s front three with Giroud, Dembele and Mbappe, they’re tough players to play against.
“I think we’ve got some forward players as well though. Whoever he picks, if it’s Foden, Saka, Rashford, Mount, Maddison, whoever you throw into the mix with Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling thankfully he’s back with the group, there’s some really good footballers in there.
“It’s a great challenge for us that I’m looking forward to. The thing is, if we put our England players in a Champions League game against those French players, whoever they’re playing for, PSG, Juve, Bayern Munich, whoever, we’d back our English players, so I’m backing them in a World Cup game as well.
“I think we’ve got enough if they’re right to win this game. I’m hoping that’s the case and I’m enjoying a glass of wine at 8.45 or 9pm and England are through to the next round.”
As seen in the last round, Mbappe is a constant threat and the kind of player who can find a goal in the blink of an eye.
On how the England defence can deal with him, he told us: “Am I allowed to say – let’s see if you can put him over the hoardings early on?!
“He’s a really talented player. If we put Kyle Walker up against him, he’s probably the one player in our squad who can compete with him from a speed point of view.
“The first thing we have to do is get the set-up right so he doesn’t get enough service. Don’t give him enough space in behind for him to run on to.
“Apart from that it should be a nice easy game for Kyle!”