England 4 – 0 Iceland

England recorded an emphatic 4 – 0 victory over a poor Iceland side but what can this result and performance tell us about England’s chances of competing against the very best at the Euro’s?

Goals from Rice, Mount and two from Foden sealed the victory with Rice and Foden registering their first goals for their country.

So what have we learned from this exercise?

The first thing for me is that Kane needs out and out pace up there with him. I’m not sure whether he needs that out wide with Sterling and Rashford or if he would be better dropping slightly deeper and Southgate persuading Vardy to play up top.

Grealish, Foden and Mount have all shown themselves to be more than capable of forcing their way in to this team. They are all technically gifted and have shown that they always want the ball.

How many of them you get in the starting eleven when everyone is fit? Do we need to play four at the back to get as many in as possible?

The answer to the latter is yes but does that weaken an already suspect defence far too much to be able to compete against the best?

I myself am making things even more complicated by bringing Vardy back in to the equation and suggesting Kane should play deeper.

We should forget Vardy for now as he is still in international retirement.

Let’s say Southgate sticks with this formation as he is petrified about conceding too many with four at the back.

He will start Kane up top with Sterling and Rashford either side and Henderson and Rice as the two midfielders when it comes to playing against the better teams.

Bad idea I believe. The midfield will be incapable of providing any service to the front three and even though it looks to be an attacking three on paper, the team won’t be very attacking because of what is behind them.

Bring Mount or Winks in as one of the two in midfield and Mount will make forward runs and Winks will look to make forward passes so will bring the front three in to the game more. Plus you definitely don’t need two out and out holding midfielders with five at the back.

That still doesn’t get Grealish or Foden in to the team though let alone both. Could you drop Sterling or Rashford for one of those? Does that give a better balance in terms of all bases covered or is only one player with electric not enough?

Moving to four at the back could allow you to play Kane up top and three from Sterling, Rashford, Grealish and Foden as the three behind.

But would that mean Mount then goes in to the three behind equation as Southgate would want two out and out holding midfielders in that formation?

I’d like us to go more attacking and get as many of our attacking players in to the team as possible as I think we will struggle defensively no matter what against the better teams.

I can see Southgate’s dilemma in that respect however. Not only does he not think we have the centre halves capable of coping in a two but he also feels that the full backs are better going forward than they are defensively.

Who’d be an England manager hey?