Former Everton winger Pat Nevin has been looking ahead to the big England v Scotland clash at Wembley on Friday evening and, as a proud Scotsman, he fears the presence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
After winning their first game against Croatia, there have been suggestions that Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate may shuffle his pack for the match against the Scots and Nevin believes the Everton striker could get the nod to start.
“I hope he does, and I think it would be sensible,” Nevin told evertonfc.com. "Looking at what Dominic has got, he would cause Scotland all sorts of problems.
“In terms of pace, without Tierney in there, that’s a weakness for Scotland and that’s why they play three centre-backs because any two aren’t good enough at that level.
“Dominic will be desperate for an opportunity and if he gets one, then Scotland will be worried about him. I hope he gets a chance when Phil Foden or Jack Grealish are playing because Dominic’s movement would suit that.
“Actually, I hope they wait until the game against the Czech Republic!”
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH PAT NEVIN IN FULL BY CLICKING BELOW
Nevin, who surprisingly is the only player to represent Scotland at a European Championship finals while still at Everton, also suggested there is sufficient quality within the England ranks for the team to go all the way.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, there’s enough good players there," said the pundit. "If you look at what’s up front there are three centre-forwards who would walk into the Scotland team. Everywhere you look at the team, as an outsider, you’re just saying, ‘Wow’ and I think they are a stick-on for the semi-finals.”
The Accidental Footballer is the title of the charismatic Nevin’s recently-published autobiography and within its pages he reflects on his time at Everton.
He accepts that he joined the Club when there was a changing of the guard and that the new players and the existing legends didn’t always gel as well together as manager Colin Harvey would have wanted them to.
“I try to explain it because there was the old guard and the new guard and I completely understood the feelings of the old guard because they were basically being replaced by a bunch of new lads who had never done as well as them," explains Nevin.
“I didn’t take part in any cliques and, in fact, before Colin Harvey’s very last game in charge part of his team talk was to say to all the players, ‘See if you all had his attitude’ and he pointed at me, ‘We would be top of the league.’
“Colin was just frustrated because he couldn’t get everyone to work together as well as they should have done.
“It takes me two chapters to explain but that group of players should have done much better.”
‘The Accidental Footballer’ is available now from all good bookshops and via Amazon.
