David Platt column: Daniel Sturridge can set Euro 2016 alight if full-backs help him out in Iceland clash
Former England ace reckons Kyle Walker and Danny Rose can supply Three Lions striker with ammo
IF ENGLAND are to break Iceland down on Monday night then the full-backs are going to be key.
When you are playing against a side who will put every man behind the ball and hit you on the break you have to be brave.
You also need to play with width and stretch things as the central area will be packed.
Getting the ball up to the final third is going to be relatively easy — it is what comes after that which is the problem.
We don’t have out and out wingers.
You could tell Raheem Sterling to hug the line and knock balls into Harry Kane all night long but I sense Iceland would be happy facing that.
We will need the width from our full-backs.
So both Danny Rose and Kyle Walker will need to do the job of wing backs even though they are part of a back four.
It means they need to start high up the pitch taking passes, preferably in behind the Iceland back-four from the midfield not a central defender giving it to them in deeper positions.
Dele Alli and Adam Lallana need to cut inside when they don’t have the ball, at the right time to free up the space, and let the full-backs bomb on and combine with them.
What you are trying to do is get behind the very last line to get the opposition defence facing it’s own goal.
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You are also going to need creativity in the middle of course and real incisive slide rule passing.
That is why I would play Ross Barkley with Wayne Rooney in this match because he can conjure something up.
When the space in the final third is going to be as tight as it will be against Iceland, you need players who are going to put balls down corridors and get people to the byline and get the defence turned and looking at its own goal.
I would play Daniel Sturridge as the sole forward.
I think Iceland would want to face Kane because he is more static.
Sturridge, by contrast, can create something for himself as we saw with his late winner against Wales.
This approach does leave you vulnerable to the counter attack, especially if the full-backs are so far forward, so possession is key.
You cannot lose the ball in silly areas like the middle third where any counter will come from.
They will not counter from the back.
Now in my line up I would have Eric Dier sitting in front of the back four.
But one more from the midfield needs to be mindful of the counter and dropping back.
That leaves you basically blocking the central area with four men which forces the counterattack wide and slows it down.
If you watch Barcelona, who face packed defences week in week out you will see the three of Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic.
Now Iniesta and Rakitic get forward but they don’t both go beyond the ball and leave Busquets on his own to protect the back four. If they were to both go beyond the ball, you are taking a gamble.
So one of Rooney or Barkley will have to dovetail with Dier.
MY TEAM: (4-1-4-1) Hart, Walker, Smalling, Cahill, Rose; Dier; Lallana, Barkley, Rooney, Alli; Sturridge.