Collymore, who was capped on three occasions by the Three Lions, went on to say of super-subs coming good: “Now, of course, any striker wants to play 90 minutes. But the great thing about being on the bench, you’re sitting there, 90, 100 degrees heat – not so much in Dallas, because I think the roof will be on, but certainly for the other games – you’re thinking to yourself, ‘get me on, gaffer, get me on’.
“And there’s this whole narrative that Thomas Tuchel wants to talk about brotherhood, it’s going to be 26 players, it’s not going to be 11. And so I think from that, he’ll be sitting on the bench, warming up, and think, ‘I’m going to get at least 30 minutes’. And I think he will.
“I think Ollie Watkins will be one of those guys that ends up as a finisher, like Eberechi Eze, like Noni Madueke, like Anthony Gordon. And again, I was at the last friendly against Costa Rica in Orlando, and the second half, in inverted commas, finishers were much livelier, much sharper than the first warm-up game against New Zealand.
“So I think that four or five or six players, with pace, coming off the back of a good season, as Ollie Watkins undoubtedly has after winning a trophy, I think he’ll be relatively happy with that. If the narrative was all about, this is the first 11, Thomas Tuchel’s got his favourites, he’s not bringing Harry Kane off, it’s ridiculous, Kane isn’t playing very well, then I think it’s a very different conversation.
“But I think that all of those finishers will be happy to be finishers because, let’s be perfectly honest, tough Premier League season, 70, 80, 90, 100 degree heat, 30 minutes as a pro footballer to go on and make your mark is still ample time to be able to do that. So I don’t think he’s going to be as downcast as a lot of people would think, and I think he’s got a major part to play in England’s success, if we get any.”
