World Cup 2018: 5 factors England need to get right to have a successful

#2 Play without fear

England's players looked crippled by fear in their Euro 2016 loss to Iceland

One major criticism of England teams in past tournaments has been that they appear to be crippled by fear when the going gets tough and simply look unable to recreate their club form when they pull on the famous white shirt.

Look at Euro 2016, for instance – England defeated finalists France and Portugal – as well as semi-finalists Germany – in games leading up to the tournament, but once the big games came around they simply couldn’t operate under the pressure, choked, and ended up losing to Iceland in one of the English game’s ultimate low points.

So how can Southgate’s men stop this rot? Simply put, they must ignore the press reports, ignore the pressure put on them by both the doubting fans and the fans that never stop believing that they’re the best team in the world, and ignore their own nagging feelings of doubt too.

Sounds easy, right? Of course not, but if England want to succeed this time where they’ve failed before, they need to play without fear – in the same way, that their biggest stars like Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson do when they play for their clubs.

It is possible – and hopefully, Southgate’s selection of an exuberant, youthful side might help them do it.