CHRIS SUTTON: Wout Weghorst is so much more than a battering ram… England must beware the threat of the giant Dutchman in semi-final showdown

In this era of tiki taka, inverted fullbacks, false nines, passing triangles, gegenpressing, set-piece specialists and all those other tactical innovations we enjoy so much, there is something beautiful about Wout Weghorst.

It’s simple. It’s effective. It’s using a 6ft 6in striker, which you can practically take a Sunday stroll around, to your advantage.

I was at the Olympiastadion in Berlin and cannot stress enough how much Weghorst’s substitution at half-time changed the face of the quarter-final between the Netherlands and Turkey.

The Dutch tried the Total Football approach in the first half, with Turkey camping on the edge of their own penalty area in a counter-attacking formation.

They had five in defence and four in midfield, all of them narrowly positioned, as they liked to let their opponents have the ball in the wide area.

At 1.98 metres, Dutchman Wout Weghorst could pose a significant aerial threat to England

The Netherlands kept trying to play through the Turkish block with Memphis Depay as striker, but it didn’t work. Kudos to Ronald Koeman, because he brought on Weghorst for the second half.

Suddenly they had a direct line to the penalty area. Suddenly Turkey’s big, robust, all-in defenders were bullied. Suddenly the Netherlands had Wout with the power to cause chaos.

Koeman’s team attempted twice as many crosses in the second half as they had in the first, looking for Weghorst when they had possession in wide positions. However, it would be wrong to describe him as a ‘head on a stick’ or a ‘battering ram’.

I was a tall striker myself — 6ft 3.5in, and yes, the half inch is important — and we often get lumped together with those tags. Unfairly, in my opinion.

There’s more to it than just doing your best Michael Jordan impression by jumping high for the ball. You have to know where to move and when.

You can see Weghorst as a Premier League joke, he is incredibly intelligent in the way he breaks away from opponents and looks for the diagonal balls.

A good example of this was when he created space for himself to attempt a volley at the far post, where he felt he should have hit the ball.

Weghorst’s substitution at half-time against Turkey changed the face of the quarter-final

Weghorst has ravaged Turkey but I suspect he won’t start in this semi-final against England as Koeman knows Gareth Southgate is unlikely to block low.

The Dutch may want to try to play through us at first with their penetrating passes from midfield, but Koeman will feel safe in the knowledge that he can bring on Weghorst to change it if necessary.

He is the perfect plan B, scoring twice against Argentina in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, his second goal coming from a disguised free kick rather than a cross and header.

England must watch out for the threat of Weghorst, as he could be the striker who decides this confrontation.