Laura Woods: Mainoo, Trent and Palmer must all start for England

I don’t think Gareth (Southgate) has necessarily been wrong in the players he’s picked to start the group games but I think players have come off the bench and claimed their spots.

Kobbie Mainoo instantly made an impact against Slovenia. He was very positive and linked up play nicely. We looked 100 times better and much more of a threat with him in midfield.

I love Cole Palmer, he’s the kind of player other teams will be scared of. I’d love to see Palmer start on the right and Bukayo Saka on the left against Slovakia. Mainoo deserves to start in midfield alongside Declan Rice and I think Trent Alexander-Arnold should come back into the side at right-back with Kyle Walker switching to left-back.

That looks like a much more balanced side to me.

England criticism fair game

I think a lot of the criticism around England has been fair but some has been over the top. We’ve qualified top of the group, although I don’t know how. We’re lucky the other results have gone in our favour – but we’ve topped the group and that’s the main thing.

Remember Portugal in 2016? They had a similar start. I went to a lot of their games in France that summer. They were less than impressive, they ground out draws in the groups, won games by the skin of their teeth in extra time in the knockouts and beat France in the final. There are many ways to win tournaments, having a bad start doesn’t have to set the tone.

Some things haven’t worked and players haven’t looked their best yet but the difference Mainoo and Palmer made off the bench made me much more optimistic. If we make those changes in the last 16 I think the team will click.

Portugal my pick for trophy

I fancy Portugal to go close now and they’re my pick to win it.

However, I do still think England will come good and make the final. We have a very favourable side of the draw and this is a golden chance so we can’t mess it up – there is too much talent in that team.

We have to get the selection right and we have to pull out a great performance in the next round to get our confidence back. I still have faith and England still have time.

Wright, Neville, Keane & Baumgartner…

I’ve loved every minute of the tournament so far and presenting it has been amazing. Working alongside the likes of Ian Wright, Roy Keane and Gary Neville still makes me pinch myself and, while they are brilliant pundits, they do make me laugh.

We’ve had many funny moments so far but there is one that really stood out and that’s around the Austria v France game.

Ian and Gary started discussing Christoph Baumgartner’s shot and whether or not he had actually kicked the ground accidentally before trying to chip the keeper.

That argument started before we went on air and continued after we came off. Well into the break and beyond!

Sometimes what you see on air is actually a watered-down version of the same discussion. I always like them to try not to have the chat before we get on the air so we get the best bits.

But on this occasion they were both so passionate that they were right they couldn’t contain it. Meanwhile, I’m trying to get some kind of order and get their attention for the other bits of analysis we are going to see and Roy is sitting there ignoring them both in his own calm state of mind. I asked him what he thought and he said: “It doesn’t matter, he still missed!”

Laura Woods was speaking as an ambassador for BetMGM.