WALKER FIRED UP FOR PUSH TO REACH LAST 16
ENGLAND DEFENDER KYLE READY FOR DIFFERENT CHALLENGE AGAINST PANAMA TOMORROW
Defender Kyle Walker is looking to stride towards the World Cup’s last 16 with victory against Panama tomorrow (1pm kick-off ).
The second Group G match, in sweltering Nizhny Novgorod, is sure to be a different proposition to Monday’s victory over Tunisia.
“We’ve seen a few clips,” the Manchester City defender said. “We know they’re a physical team.
“Tunisia liked to play the ball out from the back and they was very patient, and we pressed them high, but they got out sometimes.
“But Panama are probably more direct, so we’ve had to change our game plan a little bit and think about the threats they’re going to cause us.
“I feel they need to worry about us more than we need to worry about them.
“We’ve got key men in key areas that can go and get goals at any time, so if we just keep the ball, keep to our style that we’ve been playing throughout the build-up to the tournament, and especially in the first game and especially the first half, I think we’ll be fine.”
England required poise and patience to come through against Tunisia as the players displayed a mental edge sorely lacking when humiliated by Iceland at Euro 2016.
“I think we’ve learned a lot,” Walker, one of the starters against Iceland in Nice, said. “The team has evolved massively form the Iceland game. I think that was proved against Tunisia.
“The board went up, I didn’t realise, we just kept tour game plan, we didn’t panic or anything, we got the goal at the end of it.
“So, that just shows the character we have in the team, the belief we have in each other and hopefully the same thing doesn’t recur.”
Having established himself as one of the world’s best right-backs, Walker has shown no little character as part of England’s three-man central defence.
The 28-year-old says he has never felt “uncomfortable” in that role, but former England defender Rio Ferdinand questioned his positioning against Tunisia.
“It is a new position for me,” Walker said. “Of course I’m still learning. I’ve got great people next to me and especially the gaffer as well, who is coaching me and making sure I know key tips in certain areas of what I need to do when I’m in that position. But (Ferdinand) is entitled to his opinion.”
Marcus Rashford could replace Raheem Sterling for England, with Ruben LoftusCheek set to take over from the injured Dele Alli.
Walker expects to discover tomorrow’s line-up today and said: “We all want to do well and want England to get right to the later stages and all being (well) win it.”