England are a tough watch and play like a lion in a cage which reacts when you poke them... but Gareth Southgate managed it well, writes GRAEME SOUNESS

It was functional, attritional, hard to watch but you have to say England took fabulous penalties.

Those left in the tournament will be looking across knowing that playing England is not going to be easy, they are hard to break down.

But they don’t play the brand of football we all crave, they play like a lion in a cage where if you poke them then they react.

Gareth Southgate managed it well.

He reacted when they went a goal down and the substitutions he brought on after 78 minutes made sense.

When you are in that position, when the team has gone a bit flat, it’s difficult because the opposition could go and add another but the right players came on in Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze and Luke Shaw and England were quicker and more positive in their passing. It energised the team and they gained the upper hand. They looked livelier.

When you are in that position you have no option but to go for it and that was the surprise in the previous game against Slovakia when Gareth didn’t react like that until the dying embers of the contest.

I thought Bukayo Saka was fabulous. He was my man of the match not just for his attacking play but doing the hard yards and helping out his defence, going back to his own goal. It was better than what we have seen so far but still pretty dull. The problem is both sides were scared to make a mistake so it was a very cagey affair.

I’m not convinced changing the formation made such a difference — and what Gareth does next, well I wouldn’t like to second guess. As I’ve said previously, I don’t know what he has seen sometimes in this tournament but it was an improvement. He won’t care because he is in a semi-final again and no one will feel comfortable facing them.

You have to say the penalties were terrific, no one blinked, and that portrays great confidence. Maybe the change of system will give them food for thought for the semi-final. I don’t believe it gave them more of a goal threat or creativity, that only really changed with the substitutions. But it has put them in a marvellous position because I believe they’ll win the semi-final and then it’s either France or Spain.

However, both those teams are on another level up compared to what England have faced so far in this tournament and they will have to raise their game considerably when they play either of those.