England must be more clinical against Panama

England needs to be more clinical if it is to take care of Panama in its second game in Group G and put themselves on the brink of qualification to the knockout stage.

If England beats Panama and Belgium beats or draw with Tunisia then England is through to the last 16.

Gareth Southgate’s side beat Tunisia 2-1 in its opening game but missed a series of first-half chances and needed a stoppage time winner from captain Harry Kane to secure the three points.

Defender John Stones says England has done their homework on Panama and says it is clear where the biggest area for improvement needs to be.

“Being more clinical,” he told reporters, “I think we know how the games are going to play out now and who we are going to play,” he said.

What England has learnt from its study of the Central American side, playing in its first World Cup, is that “Los Canaleros” will aim to play a high-paced, physical game.

Southgate has prided himself on building a team that enjoy pass and movement football. Stones says they will not change that approach because of their opponents.

“It is something we have spoken about and we are going to stick to our game plan. We’re going to cause them as many threats as we can using our own styles of play,” he said.

“That’s credit to the manager and the players we have got because a lot of the players at their clubs never change their style of play in difficult situations, they keep working at it and grind down teams,” he added.

Whoever Southgate opts for can expect a physical battle with Panama’s strapping central defender Roman Torres.

“Football is like that — you always have to impose yourself, you have to mark out your territory,” said the Seattle Sounders defender.

“England is a bit more direct than Belgium. It tries to make use of the pace they have. We’ll need to be compact and limit its space.”

Handed a winning start for the first time in a major tournament for 12 years by captain Harry Kane’s injury-time winner against Tunisia, England can look forward to Sunday’s meeting with Panama with a rare sense of World Cup calm.

A two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner, Kane banished any remaining doubts over his ability to perform on the biggest stage for his country with the first double by an English player at the World Cup since Gary Lineker in 1990.

But Kane’s heroics in Volgograd papered over the cracks of his team-mates’ failure to find the net with a host of simple first-half chances.

Raheem Sterling and Jesse Lingard were particularly culpable and while Kane saved an inquest into England’s profligacy and ponderous second-half performance, Sterling’s place against Panama may now be in jeopardy.

The first media storm of a hitherto relaxed campaign for the Three Lions was brewing on Friday after Gareth Southgate’s planned team was inadvertently revealed when assistant manager Steve Holland’s notes were photographed at training on Thursday.

According to the notes, Marcus Rashford will replace Sterling with Ruben Loftus-Cheek stepping in for Dele Alli, who suffered a thigh injury against Tunisia.

Southgate criticised the media for giving England’s opponents an upper hand.

“If we were to give the opposition the opportunity of having our team it’s a disadvantage to us,” said Southgate.

“So of course our media has to decide if they want to help the team or not.”

In contrast to his 23-goal season at club level for Premier League champions Manchester City, Sterling now has not scored in his last 21 internationals.

However, Rashford refuted suggestions England are too dependent on Kane for goals.

“I don’t think that’s happening in this group,” said the Manchester United striker, who admitted to being an admirer of Kane’s ability to be in the right place at the right time.

“He gets himself in great positions. If we can find him, we will, and, more often than not, he’s going to score.”

At 20, Rashford is just one of a host of exciting young English talents as Southgate took the third youngest squad in the tournament to Russia.

And Holland believes a more clinical touch in front of goal will come with experience.

“It’s psychological, it’s about pushing the players to be match-winners but it is also a process,” he said. “It might just take the time that it takes.

“If you imagine these guys in a couple of years, and I hope I’m still around then, once they’ve become more seasoned at this level, that could be really exciting. It already is now.”