England coach drops line-up hint ahead of World Cup quarter-final against France

Steven Holland believes England have found a better balance between attack and defence - and hinted they will stick to a back four.

England hit the joint-most goals of any nation in the World Cup group stage, scoring nine times, and have kept three clean sheets in a row. That may give them confidence to play to their own strengths against world champions France in Saturday's quarter final, as Holland said they are excelling at both ends of the pitch.

The England assistant boss said: "The perception has been that the five [at the back] is more negative than the four, which I don't completely agree with - I understand that perception.

"We have a group now that are 18 months further on than the Euros. With one or two of our younger forwards, there has definitely been an evolution so more consistent, more productivity at this level, the highest level in major tournaments. Now, we have to look at what we have, the tools we have in the bag, look at the problems the opponent is going to cause us, their weaknesses, and try to come up with something that gives us the best chance of winning the game.

"That sounds a bit obvious but, really, to win tournaments, you need to be the best team in Europe or the world in both penalty boxes. We were happy with Iran that six goals [scored] is obviously a good start at that end, but we were not happy at the other end because conceding two goals a game is not going to win us the World Cup. So the message to the players after that game was really clear: 'we have to keep this bit but we have to address the other side of it'.

Should Gareth Southgate pick a four or five-man defence against France? Have your say in the comments!

"We've now had three clean sheets, which is clear progress in that respect. It puts us on track because we are going to have a game somewhere along the line where we don't score and when that is the case, you are still alive."

Holland says he can understand why he is seen as the "bad cop", but he just wants to keep the players focused. Gareth Southgate is often regarded as "too nice" to be a football manager but his No. 2 dovetails perfectly alongside him to ensure the players never get carried away.

Former Chelsea coach Holland also insists he would never just be a "yes man" and has his own views, which are driven by the secrets of success from working under successful bosses at Stamford Bridge and England with Southgate.

Holland, who has been with Southgate since 2013 from under-21s level, said: "I understand the question. I wouldn't say, 'bad cop, good cop', because the manager makes strong decisions, we've seen those over a period of time now, but I think between us, we have a good balance.

"When I think back to my experiences, I was really fortunate to be at a club where I had the chance to compete for titles. And what you do learn in that environment is that to win titles, to win cups, consistency is the order of the day.

"It's about the consistency of performance week in, week out, eight months, every three days, pushing yourselves to be consistent and hit those levels. The messaging with the England team is always that. Whenever we've hit one particular level or achievement, the message very simply is: 'we've achieved nothing yet - we need to refocus quickly and then on to the next'."

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