Monday 20 June 2016 21:11, UK
Englishman James Lawrence, who plays in the Slovakian top division, has warned Roy Hodgson's men to be wary of Slovakia hitting them on the break with their skilful wingers.
James Lawrence plays for AS Trencin in the Slovak Super Liga and believes England's Group B opponents in Saint-Etienne will sit back and try to hit England on the counter-attack on Monday evening.
"We can expect a not too attacking approach from them," he told Sky Sports News HQ.
"They'll probably wait and see what happens, see how we play and try to hit us on the counter, quite quickly and effectively.
"For them a draw is good, they think four points and they're going through in third place. If they can nick a win then that's great for them as well."
Although much of the focus in the Slovakia team falls on their star midfielder Marek Hamsik, who scored superbly against Russia, Lawrence has warned they are much more than a one-man team, with wingers Robert Mak and Vladimir Weiss posing a danger.
He said: "England have been very good defensively in the past couple of games. Despite the two goals against them, I think they've been very solid. They've just got to keep that up at the back, keep their focus on that and they'll be OK.
"The two Slovakia wingers, including Mak, are both sharp players, they've got decent technique, are good at running at players, with good pace, so those are the other two apart from Hamsik, that we need to control.
"We did a very good job of controlling Gareth Bale against Wales and I think they're going to do a similar job with Hamsik."
The 23-year-old, who knows England striker Harry Kane from their younger days playing together at the Arsenal Academy, believes Tottenham's top scorer last season can rediscover his top form.
"He's been a bit disappointing to be honest," admitted Lawrence.
"He's got a lot of pressure resting on his shoulders which, going into a major tournament, is not easy to deal with. But he's going to have to shake it off and shake off the criticism because we know he's had a great season for Tottenham and he's played really well. If he can find that sort of form, he'll do really well."
Tipping Slovakia to be potential dark horses for the tournament overall, Lawrence nevertheless forecast a 2-1 win to England.
He said: "I hope it's going to be an exciting game - end-to-end stuff - both teams trying to win and trying not to be too conservative.
"That's what the public wants but I think it might be slightly the opposite, slightly cagey with both teams not wanting to give too much away.
"I think England will win and if they get through, settle their nerves and realise that we're in with a really good chance of going a long way in the tournament, then I think we can do well.
"For me, Slovakia are always going to be a dark horse. They've got some good players and performed well in their previous two games so who knows how far they can go."
Slovakia's 2-1 win over Russia has given Jan Kozak's side a chance of reaching the knockout stages.
A win over England would send them through to the second round as automatic qualifiers, while a draw would be enough to seal a top-two spot if Wales lose to Russia.
