Sunday 24 June 2018 16:39, UK
England cruised into the World Cup knockout stage with a game to spare after routing Panama 6-1 in Nizhny Novgorod - but who was the standout performer?
Harry Kane scored a hat-trick, while a sublime strike from Jesse Lingard and a double from John Stones saw England move level on points and goal difference with Belgium at the top of Group G.
Former Tottenham midfielder Ryan Mason watched the game on The Football Social - and he gave each of England's players a rating out of 10...
He'll be disappointed he didn't keep a clean sheet but I don't think he could have done anything about the goal. Overall, he did well. His positioning was good and he pulled off one decent save in the second half. He did exactly what was asked of him.
He was one of England's standout players. His ability to create chances, his final ball, and his end product is one of the best in the tournament I've seen so far. I thought he was absolutely outstanding.
I think he's still learning the position. Not much was asked of him defensively but I still think the best part of his game is being taken away from him when we play as one of three centre-backs. However, you can't' really argue when Trippier is playing so well. I thought he did okay and he did his job.
England are a real threat at set pieces and Stones benefited from that against Panama. The quality of the delivery has been brilliant and they've obviously been working at it in training. You could see from Stones' second goal that they'd worked on that routine and it paid off. The importance of set pieces cannot be underestimated because when you get to the latter stages of the competition games will be decided on set pieces. It's really encouraging for us. Stones is not known for his goals but his first was a superb finish.
Defensively, not much was asked of anybody in the team. The only times that there was trouble was from our own mistakes and our own lapses of concentration. In terms of having much to do as a defender he wasn't asked to do much but what he was asked to do he did well.
I've been really impressed with Harry in these first two games. He's a massive asset in both defence and going forward. Technically he's very good and he's been driving forward from defence. His performances so far have been really encouraging for England.
When you've got Trippier playing so high up the pitch on the right you can almost afford, and it probably works, having Young playing a little bit deeper at times because it gives you that added security. You can't really knock him because he did exactly what was asked of him. Defensively he was sound and always kept the ball moving. He will be happy and Gareth will be happy with his performance.
He shows glimpses of his quality. There are moments when I think wow, he's a player with real ability. The problem with him in the past is he hasn't been pushed enough by the coaches, managers and the people around him and he hasn't been backed enough. Now he's got Gareth, who is backing him. I'm sure this performance today will give him huge confidence. He's just started a World Cup game in a win for his country. He came in and slotted into the position very nicely. It was a very encouraging 90 minutes for him.
He's a real leader for this team. He's Liverpool's captain and you do not captain a club like Liverpool if you're not a leader. For me, in the formation that we play, his role is the most important in the team. Henderson's work goes unnoticed at times but over the course of the two games we've played I would go as far as saying he's consistently been our best player.
He allows Jesse Lingard, Dele Alli and Raheem Sterling to run forward and vacate that space because they know behind them they've got Henderson, who is very intelligent in the positions he takes up. I was very impressed with him again against Panama, he was one of the standout players.
Another standout performer. The relationship between him and Trippier is obviously there because not only is Lingard making the runs, he's being found by Trippier. The intelligence of him seeing space and then running into it is brilliant.
He obviously scored a sublime goal to round off his performance but not only that, he also won the penalty for an outstanding bit of movement. I've been so impressed with his energy and his intelligence of where to run at certain times. He's becoming one of the first names on Southgate's team sheet.
I feel for Raheem a little bit. It would have been nice if he'd have scored just to prove a few doubters wrong and get a few people off his back. However, in my eyes, England's best 11 includes Raheem Sterling in it. The opening game was England's best 11. The team look like they've got good relationships all over the park. Raheem may not have scored in the opening two games but there's a lot of work that he's done that's helped others. He's taken up some intelligent positions but I'd just like him to be a bit more clinical. He didn't really get any clear-cut chances against Panama but I thought he did his job.
Five shots, five goals so far in this tournament. Incredible! That stat right there shows he's world class. He got a lot of criticism after the European Championships a couple of years ago. He was taking free-kicks from everywhere, he was taking corners and I don't remember him having one chance at the tournament. That's why he didn't score. If you give Harry Kane chances he will score goals.
So far he's been leading the team from the front and what we've got is a world-class player. He's probably our only world class player in the squad and everyone is working towards creating chances for him. I'm really excited about this England squad and how far we can go because for once it seems like everyone's together and working for what's best for the team. And what's best for the team is getting Kane chances and he's already proven he'll take them. He's already well in the running for Golden Boot and if England can get to at least the last four he'll definitely go close to winning it. He's outstanding. He's clinical and his two penalties were absolutely unstoppable.
Southgate was very clever with his substitutions because when you've got a squad of players you want to utilise all of them and make everyone feel like they will play a big part for the team. It would have been easy to bring on Marcus Rashford and make similar changes to other day but he brought Vardy, Delph and Rose on and from their point of view it will give them a confidence boost.
For me, I would like to see a few more players in the squad get a chance against Belgium. I would like to see Southgate rest a few. Not for physical reasons but for the mental side of things. You could make the case for playing your best team at all times to keep the momentum going, but I do expect some changes.
We've qualified from the group and that was our objective. I'm sure the same will happen for Belgium because it's a long tournament. England are rightly aiming to go to the latter stages of this tournament and to expect your players to play seven 90 minute matches in 20 days is a lot. They now have the opportunity to rest a few and I expect them to take it.
