If Gareth Southgate persists with Raheem Sterling up front instead of Marcus Rashford for Wednesday’s all-important World Cup semi-final against Croatia then it must pay off or this will be the one blot in Southgate’s copybook.

Sterling was outmuscled on the ball against Colombia, and against Sweden he should have cut his run through on goal back to those around him.

In all, it is tempting to say that he doesn’t belong up front alongside Harry Kane and would be better off on the wing or as a wide midfielder cutting in and sitting just off the front two where you don’t need as much height or physicality.

Those wider positions, however, are more than filled by Kieren Trippier, who runs up from a wing back position, and Dele Alli or Jesse Lingard, who rule the marauding creative middle with aplomb.

Sterling is a quality player — he showed that at the last World Cup in Brazil in 2014 when he owned the wing and was arguably the only thing that looked good about us as we crashed out of the group.

However, he doesn’t fit into this system. That fact has been masked by goals thankfully coming in from different areas like Harry Maguire, John Stones, as well as Lingard and Alli. However, if it wasn’t for those goals, Sterling’s lack of effect would have been much more noticeable than it already is.

Just as Sterling was the only thing that looked positive for England at World Cup 2014, Marcus Rashford was also the only thing of note for the Three Lions at Euro 2016 before we again crashed out in the Last 16. So, give him his chance.

If not, we stick with Sterling and hope he finally comes good. The Man City player is more than capable and surely just needs a goal to get his confidence back — get that goal and things could develop rapidly for England, with the team finally firing off all cylinders just in time for a potential final.

With England having got this far I can see why Southgate would be reticent to make too many changes for fear of stepping wrong. I’m also sure that in the manager’s eyes, Sterling doesn’t necessarily need goals to prove his worth, as some believe, despite being quiet, he is subversively running the show — I just don’t see it.

There is also the argument, that for reasons unknown, Sterling has always been scapegoated by England fans, maybe because of his controversial switch from Liverpool to City, maybe because he hasn’t scored for England since 2015 or replicated his City form with the national team. Maybe we should all just get off his back and watch him come good.

If England go out against Croatia there will be widespread positivity on their surprising run to the last four, but if Sterling puts in another iffy performance, his involvement at the expense of Rashford will be a blemish on an otherwise faultless display from the team leaving a lot of ‘what ifs’. The reverse of that though, is if you start young Rashford and he buckles under the pressure people will ask why Southgate ditched Sterling and ruined the run of confidence.