England will hold no fear for Wales when they meet in the World Cup, according to Mickey Thomas.
Former Wales and Manchester United star Thomas believes Robert Page's resurgent side have every chance of beating Gareth Southgate's men when the nations meet in Qatar. Thomas feels England's shock 4-0 home defeat by Hungary showed Southgate has big problems to address before the tournament and reckons Wales are ready to take full advantage.
“There will be no fear at all when Wales play England in the group stage,” said Thomas. “Why should we fear anyone? We've proved in the past we can get results. Whenever you play England you always raise your game, because they're the team everybody wants to beat.
“So they won't be scared of England - we've proved in the past that we can play at their level, no question about that. What will encourage Wales is that, in England's last couple of games, it looks like they've got quite a few problems they need to address.
“They've lost something they had, that winning mentality has gone. They're like a team of individuals at the moment, they're not connecting properly, they don't seem like they're together.
“I know there's more pressure playing for England. The players are in the public eye more than anyone, and a few of them haven't been playing well for their clubs, which can have a knock-on effect in terms of lacking confidence.
“Gareth Southgate has been in charge of England for a long time, and he's done a great job, but you only get judged as a great manager if you can win things. So the pressure is on. I don't know much about the other teams in the group, Iran and the USA. But the US aren't the force they were, so England and Wales should qualify from that group.”
Thomas also believes the fact it is set to be the last major tournament for Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen will give Wales extra motivation to go far in Qatar. “Gareth's not the player he was,” said Thomas. “Everyone knows as you get older you lose certain things, but he still has an aura about him on the pitch and he commands attention when he plays.”
Who will come out on top when England and Wales face off at the World Cup? Have your say in the comments!
Thomas, 67, has made a successful recovery from oesophagus cancer and is walking to the summit of Snowdon on Saturday to raise funds for the NHS that saved his life. The walk, which has already raised £10,000, is to provide funds for the Upper Gastrointestinal Surgical Unit at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital.
“I've got the surgeon who saved my life and the chief nurse walking with me, and that's quite powerful, because these are amazing people," said Thomas. “They don't want publicity, all they want to do is to try to get some financial backing for the equipment they need and this is a way of helping them do that.”
Donate to Mickey Thomas's fundraising walk here .
