Jorginho’s guile must be curbed

THE Italians have had some master manipulators of the ball in midfield over the years. When England faced Italy in the Euro 2012 quarter-finals, they could hardly get near Andrea Pirlo, that outrageously classy operator. Aside from that chipped penalty in the shoot-out, he bossed proceedings, completing more passes than the entire England midfield and covering a greater distance than any of the English players. That cannot happen again. Tomorrow, the Italian to stop is Jorginho. Spain did a great job of limiting his influence in the semi-final. Italy had only 29-per-cent possession and were glad to get to penalties in the end. Alongside Jorginho is Marco Verratti, who is a fantastic footballer but someone whose skin England can get under. At times, Verratti can be overenthusiastic. He’s never far from a booking and, if he can be frustrated early on, he’ll then be walking a tightrope. I want to see England’s midfield being bold. I want Mason Mount to get on top of his Chelsea team-mate Jorginho and knock him off his game. He likes to play at his own pace, so England must not give him the chance to do that, otherwise that could be as dangerous as Pirlo in 2012. The biggest bonus for Gareth Southgate’s side is having the crowd there at Wembley. We don’t want the fans to start getting anxious but they will if they see a team sitting back and letting Jorginho dictate. Be brave, and win that midfield battle. I’m optimistic for this final and for the future on a whole. There is so much young talent in this squad. England’s so-called Golden Generation team was haunted by a failure to live up to expectations at the big tournaments. Now this English team are in a major final and have every chance of emerging victorious.