Wednesday 27 September 2017 23:04, UK
Gianfranco Zola and Craig Bellamy give their view on Gareth Southgate's England side, and whether they are still feared.
England, who have reached the last four of a major competition just once since 1966, are in a good position to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia having taken 20 points out of a possible 24 in Group F.
Speaking on The Debate, Italian Zola and Welshman Bellamy gave their honest opinion on the current side, and whether Southgate could experience success in coming tournaments.
I was talking about England recently, saying it is a very talented team at present. There's a lot of talent in it, a lot.
But in order to do well in the major championships is whether they can maintain the same level from qualification to tournament, something they haven't done previously.
Going forward there is no doubt they have a lot of creativity, quality, pace, but they will play against very strong teams too.
This is a very young team, but they are getting a lot of experience with their clubs, because the majority play Champions League, but international level is a different story.
If you want to win a big competition like the World Cup, or the Euros, you have to be a team, get together and be strong together, something that Italy have done, and is very much the case with them.
Even if they don't have the best team, Italy won big competitions without having the best team. What is it? We become a team, a real strong team, playing like one, that's exactly it.
It can be a mental thing with England, otherwise I cannot justify the results that England have had in competitions. I believe they had the quality to at least get to semi-finals, but it didn't happen, sometimes for little reasons, like penalties, but too often to be a coincidence.
You need to be able to get something out of a game, even when the opposition have control of the game. This is what Italy have been very good at. It's key for England in the next competition.
Who is world class in the England team? I think there are some on the way to being world class. Harry Kane is going very well, he is becoming one of the best strikers around, but they still need something more.
With England, it's easy to point the finger at defence, maybe they're not as sound as other nations, and against stronger opposition I think they struggle without the ball.
Can they go forward and score? With Harry Kane, of course they can. Maybe I'm wrong, but they just never look in the best physical condition to me.
They don't look the same off the back of a demanding season in the Premier League.
A break at Christmas would help the international team going into tournaments. Wales did well, yes, but we had Aaron Ramsey fresh having missed a lot of the season with an injury, and Joe Allen was outstanding, having not played too much for Liverpool.
Gareth Bale got a break with Real, so our three real key players at the Euros had a break and played their best football.
I've never been too interested in the world rankings, and certainly wouldn't judge a side on that. It's different with Wales, the team we have, it doesn't matter if you play week in, week out with your club, because you're trusted in your position for Wales.
If you don't play week in, week out and you're English, you're not getting in the England team.
So a lot of those players, to be able to represent England all the time, you have to have played all season.
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