STRIKE IT RICH ... Welbeck (right) is set to get the nod ahead of Carroll

I TOTALLY understand the team Roy Hodgson will put out against France in Donetsk tonight.

You don’t want to lose your first game in a tournament like this or you’re under pressure, as Holland have now found out.

By playing James Milner wide and Ashley Young in behind Danny Welbeck in what will most of the time look like a 4-5-1, it is safety first.

But it is not the team I would have gone for.

In two of the opening games I have seen big centre-forwards thriving on good delivery.

We saw it with Robert Lewandowski’s first goal of the whole tournament for Poland.

Then again on Saturday night, Mario Gomez got the winner for Germany against Portugal via the same route.

I believe back fours in this tournament are vulnerable to that and France will be tonight.

Which is why I would have preferred Andy Carroll up front with Welbeck just behind him and Young out wide on the left.

Young is probably the best crosser of the ball in the England squad and from those wide positions he can give Carroll the delivery that he can thrive on.

Welbeck can then dash about from a position in behind, making those runs that pull the defence this way and that.

In that way it would make him more difficult to mark, with the back four already having enough on their plate handling Carroll.

Up front on his own Welbeck will be easier to handle.

You don’t want to lose your first game in a tournament like this or you’re under pressure, as Holland have now found out.

By playing James Milner wide and Ashley Young in behind Danny Welbeck in what will most of the time look like a 4-5-1, it is safety first.

But it is not the team I would have gone for.

In two of the opening games I have seen big centre-forwards thriving on good delivery.

We saw it with Robert Lewandowski’s first goal of the whole tournament for Poland.

Then again on Saturday night, Mario Gomez got the winner for Germany against Portugal via the same route.

I believe back fours in this tournament are vulnerable to that and France will be tonight.

Which is why I would have preferred Andy Carroll up front with Welbeck just behind him and Young out wide on the left.

Young is probably the best crosser of the ball in the England squad and from those wide positions he can give Carroll the delivery that he can thrive on.

Welbeck can then dash about from a position in behind, making those runs that pull the defence this way and that.

In that way it would make him more difficult to mark, with the back four already having enough on their plate handling Carroll.

Up front on his own Welbeck will be easier to handle.

It would be a more positive set-up for me and give the French more to think about.

But again this is not a criticism of Hodgson if he sets up as expected to make sure we don’t lose this first game.

I’m convinced we will be well organised and everybody will know his role.

I believe Roy is a man with a real attention to detail and you can bet he will know France inside out.

And a good solid draw will definitely not be a bad thing.

After all, look at what has happened to Holland. They did all the attacking, missed a host of chances and now if they lose to Germany on Wednesday they are packing their bags six days in.

How poor was Robin van Persie in that game, by the way? He had an absolute shocker and I am sure the coach now wishes he had played Klaas-Jan Huntelaar instead.

So Welbeck remains our striking hope in the first game and my advice to him would be to just go out there and enjoy it.

At 21, he is young enough not to have any fear or baggage from previous tournaments.

He has experience of big-match occasions with Manchester United and shown he can handle it.

With his finish in the final warm-up game against Belgium at Wembley we also saw what an eye for goal he has.

I believe he can have a long and distinguished England career.

He might just come out of this tournament a national hero as well.

Why not?

While the expectations surrounding England are low I had still not seen anything prior to yesterday’s two games that would make me worry unduly. The Poland-Greece match exposed two poor sides.

Yes, Russia thumped the Czechs but that was more to do with how bad the Czechs were.

Holland missed a host of chances in losing to Denmark.

Portugal were really negative against Germany until they went a goal behind and with a bit more ambition could have got something out of the game against one of the favourites.

I think Italy will have surprised a lot of people with their performance yesterday.

The Spanish possession game was in evidence but for the first hour Italy seemed to block their way through and play well on the counter.

They took a shock lead but their first lapse in concentration and Spain were level and should really have won with the chances that fell to Fernando Torres.

But there was some good football on display from both sides.

Now perhaps we will make people sit up and take notice. I will be back in Newcastle by the time this column comes out.

I spent the first few days of the tournament in Warsaw, which was fantastic. Then I went to Lviv in the Ukraine.

I’m not saying travel is an issue getting to and from Ukraine, but it took me three flights to get back to Newcastle.

Tonight I’ll be in the BBC studios in Salford watching and, might I add, supporting England.

I don’t think we really know what to expect from the game.

What it does provide is a platform for someone to step forward and put their mark on the tournament.

I fear it will end up as a cagey draw.

But what a boost if we can get a win from what will undoubtedly be the toughest of our three group games.

Do that and we will have a momentum that will take us who knows where.

Come on England!