World Cup 2018: 'Sheer brilliance' that has 'excited the nation' - England pundit reaction - BBC Sport
'Sparkling' and 'sheer brilliance' - BBC Sport's World Cup pundits react to Sunday's 6-1 win over Panama.
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England's performance in their 6-1 win over Panama has "excited a nation", according to former Three Lions defender Rio Ferdinand.

Sunday's thumping victory in Group G not only sent England through to the last 16, it was the biggest in their history at major tournament finals, with five of their goals coming in a thrilling first half.

"It was a sparkling 45 minutes of sheer brilliance from start to finish," said fellow BBC pundit Alan Shearer.

"We were brilliant," added Frank Lampard. "Panama are not at the same level, we know that, but the only thing you can do as an England team is dispatch what is in front of you, and they did it with an absolutely ruthless streak."

This is how the goal-fest unfolded in Nizhny Novgorod.
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Alan Shearer: It was very, very good movement by John Stones, it took an age to take the corner because of the pulling and the grappling and the referee was warning several players.

But, when the ball came in, Ashley Young just blocks the defender off for a split second and the aggression from Stones to get away from the defender and put that header away is magnificent. It was so well worked - he finds the space, and finds the corner of the net. He just has to guide the header in there, and he does.

That's what you need as well. It is one thing to get the movement right, but that ball has got to come in. It is almost an identical area to where England hit the ball against Tunisia. We have obviously been working on that on the training ground, and it has worked perfectly.

Frank Lampard: The grappling was going on there too. It was just ridiculous - Kane could not move and Harry Maguire was getting it as well.

We are all aware VAR is being used at this tournament, and that people were talking about what happened when England played Tunisia. Surely Panama had a conversation saying that you get tight to your man, but you don't give him a bear hug?

Alan Shearer: It was definitely a foul on Jesse Lingard, I don't think anybody can have any arguments at all about that.

Frank Lampard: There were two brilliant things about this, firstly from Kieran Trippier with his quality of delivery, and then from Jesse Lingard too.

Lingard has had an incredible half of football linking play and he was always looking to make runs behind the back line. That was a striker's run and Alan would have been proud of that in his day - he bends his run and it was perfectly timed.

Then his first touch was perfect and he held his ground for a second, and took the contact - he went down and it is a penalty.

Alan Shearer: Beat the offside trap and bend your run - that is what you are taught as a kid, and Lingard did that very, very well.

Frank Lampard: Then when Kane comes to take the penalty, there is absolutely no doubt what he is going to do with it. That is the sort of form he is in, that is the player he is - he is a superstar, and you can have complete confidence that he is going to score.

Rio Ferdinand: The whole of England's play here is what you want to see from us, patience and confidence and everyone showing for the ball.

With the finish, this is where Jess is unbelievable - this finish was exquisite. I have seen this from this boy since he was 11 years old at Manchester United.

People always questioned 'is he going to be big enough, is he going to be strong enough', but when you have the intelligence and game management that this kid's got, you can be two foot tall and get through.

Jesse is that intelligent, he is that good, he understands the game, and when he gets in like this, although we didn't see it the other day when he wasn't clinical, we all said that when he gets the chances again he will put them away, and he certainly did.

That finish there - a generation of kids will remember that goal.

Alan Shearer: Again we talk about the work they have been doing on the training ground. At every set-piece all of us are sat here thinking 'what is going to happen now?' Well just watch and admire it because it is exactly what should happen.

Everyone is on the same page, they know what is happening, they are alert and alive and they know what to do. Yes Raheem misses an absolute sitter but John Stones is there again.

Frank Lampard: It is bad defending from Panama again - England almost have a conference before Trippier took the free-kick, there were about six of them talking about what they were going to do and, as a Panama defender, you would know something is up.

England came up with something quite elaborate and clever but I am a bit disappointed Sterling did not get the goal here, for his own confidence.

Gary Lineker: What the Panama defenders were doing was mad and absurd - it was like WWE.

Rio Ferdinand: Exactly, they would do well at the Royal Rumble with what they do here. It is crazy - it is such immature, naive and unprofessional defending from Panama here.

They had been warned countless times, but they were not even looking at the ball. The referee got it right.

Gary Lineker: Five goals in his opening two games - is there any stopping this man?

Frank Lampard: He just keeps producing. Nothing is a problem for him - even when they hit him on the heel, they go in - that's when you know everything is going your way, but sometimes you make your own luck.

Alan Shearer: If Harry Kane goes away from this tournament as World Cup Golden Boot winner, that is life-changing for him and, when goals are going in like that one, you know you have got a chance.

Alan Shearer: This is what happens when you start to make one or two changes and you are leading by so many - it was lazy defending.

The second half was very different, naturally, for England. We knew it was going to slow down and they could not keep that pace up.

They looked after themselves and protected themselves, and overall it was a job very, very well done. It was a magnificent performance.

Frank Lampard: The line was too high and that kind of space invites a ball into it, but I don't think it is a bad thing for England because it doesn't really matter and it might just switch them on for when it does matter in future games.

Rio Ferdinand: It is definitely too high but there were players who had just come on the pitch and we were a bit disjointed. It is something that will just tune them in again for next time.