Nothing to be scared of...

ENGLAND have nothing to fear. The players in that dressing room, with the talent they have, should look around and not feel that any country in the group should cause them a problem.

Croatia brings a repeat of the World Cup semi-final but England are a different team now. They have evolved. And they are better.

Some will talk about the memory of that defeat having an effect but a lot of those players who will start at the Euros will not have played in that game.

Gareth Southgate was still trying to find a system that worked back then. Now he has one that works well, a balanced shape with four at the back and an attacking style that plays some fantastic football. There is more competition for places, too, which drives performances. Raheem Sterling is even better now and scoring goals for fun. He’s won the fans over and rightly so. Harry Kane is fitter than he was in Russia, which is saying something as he still won the Golden Boot.

He is looking over his shoulder too with Tammy Abraham pushing hard and Marcus Rashford scoring for Manchester United.

Then there’s the array of creativity behind them. James Maddison is creating more chances than anyone else, Mason Mount has been superb this season and Dele Alli is back to his best in the last couple of weeks under Jose Mourinho.

That team at the World Cup pretty much picked itself. I don’t think that will be the case this time. We are going to have players who are really pushing each other, especially in that final third.

Croatia’s best players are a bit older while we are getting better. Ivan Rakitic is not the dominant figure he was.

As for the rest of the group, the Czechs are a side we should beat nine times out of 10. England took their foot off the gas to lose to them in the qualifiers but that should not happen again.

Of the other four qualifiers, none of them should create any fear. Scotland would create an atmosphere, yes, but if we cannot beat them we would really need to ask some questions.

The only two countries who might cause England problems are France and Belgium. Even though England would be certain of avoiding France in the next round if Southgate’s side finish second in their group, that does not mean they should try to manufacture a runners-up finish.

If you start to plan, you can easily slip. And even though the France group looks strong, should England really worry too much about Germany or Portugal?

Have we got more firepower than Germany? Yes. More than Portugal? Yes, they have only got Ronaldo.

Do not look too far ahead. Win games, build momentum. There’s nothing to fear.