England are in the healthiest of positions in their World Cup qualifying group as they countdown to their fixture against Andorra on Saturday night.
The Three Lions are currently sat proudly atop the group, four points ahead of Albania in second place, and a decent return from Saturday’s test and the midweek fixture against Hungary will put Gareth Southgate’s side in a very strong position indeed.
Given that the previous fixtures have always seen an England victory (5-0, 3-0, 2-0, 6-0 and 4-0 per 11v11.com), the expectation will surely be that Southgate’s men will wipe the floor with the Andorrans once more.
MORE: Liverpool’s quadruple selection dilemma
Former England goalkeeper, David James, has sounded a word of warning ahead of the match.
“I am not a ‘momentum’ fan – for the opposition, it becomes more of a challenge,” he said to the Daily Mirror.
“I am not for one moment suggesting that England won’t beat Andorra, don’t get me wrong, but I think there is a way that we approach the game.
“Whether or not there’ll be rotation at half-time, England should go out there and give Andorra the respect they are due by fielding a strong enough side to make changes logical.
“If you make massive changes early on then it takes away from what England are setting out to achieve and that is [to be] the world champions at Qatar.”
Whilst James’ intentions are clearly good, Southgate has proven beyond doubt that his tactical acumen and nous is spot on.
With the Hungary fixture to come a few days later, it would appear to be a sensible idea to rotate staff.
Not to the extent that the team is weakened in the Andorra fixture, but so as to ensure that the XI still has enough about them to dispatch the Hungarians.