ADAM LALLANA has warned his England team-mates not to become fixated on the threat posed by Gareth Bale as they prepare to take on Wales in Lens tomorrow.

Having conceded a stoppage-time equaliser to Russia in their opening group B game, England head into the all-British fixture knowing another failure to win would leave them in an extremely perilous position ahead of their final group match with Slovakia.

Bale showcased his attacking talents when he curled home the opening goal of Wales’ 2-1 win over Slovakia, and the Real Madrid attacker can claim to be one of the world’s leading players following a hugely successful three seasons at the Bernabeu.

Lallana grew up with Bale in Southampton’s academy, but while he respects his former team-mate’s qualities, the England midfielder insists it would be wrong to base an entire game plan on closing him down.

“You don’t want to leave your team too vulnerable on the counter-attack with players like Gareth Bale playing, the strengths and qualities he has,” said Lallana. “But it’s not a one-man show.

“They’ve got plenty of other good players. I have the pleasure of playing with Joe Allen (at Liverpool) and know what a talent he is. Aaron Ramsey is another one who is very talented, so we can’t just put all our focus on Gareth then get a sucker punch from one of their other good players.

“Their second goal the other day was Ramsey to (Hal) Robson-Kanu, and he slotted it in the bottom corner – Gareth wasn’t involved.

“Obviously we need to know his strengths because that’s a big part of Wales’ strengths, but it’s right we respect the whole team and look at their strengths and weaknesses and figure out how we are going to beat them.”

Bale made his competitive debut for Southampton as a 16-year-old in 2006, and spent just over a season playing at St Mary’s before joining Tottenham for an initial fee of £5m in the summer of 2007.

Lallana’s first-team debut also came in August 2006, and his parents would travel to academy and reserve matches with Bale’s family as the pair were attempting to break into the senior ranks.

The former team-mates remain in close contact, although Lallana does not expect there to be too much mutual debate in the next 24 hours with so much riding on tomorrow’s encounter.

He always felt Bale was destined for great things, although with Wales’ talisman having started his career as a full-back, he is surprised by the way he has developed into a striker.

“He’s done ever so well,” said Lallana. “He’s developed a lot, worked hard and deserves all his success. When he broke into the first team, it was obvious he had a wonderful left foot. He went to Tottenham and had a bit of a difficult time there, but all credit to him because he bounced back.

“There were doubters out there probably, but he brushed them aside and proved everyone wrong. Obviously, now he’s at Real Madrid and doing ever so well.

“I don’t really know what sets him apart, but it’s probably his mentality because he’s so strong. To go to another country and not speak the language, you’ve got to be very mentally strong.

“He has (an aura) that developed as his character and ability developed, but I suppose I’m surprised to see how far up the pitch he is playing now. He was a left-back when I was playing with him, but I wouldn’t even call him a winger now because he plays up front.”

With the build-up to tomorrow’s game having been dominated by discussions about Bale, Lallana feels the qualities within England’s likely starting line-up have been too readily overlooked.

Roy Hodgson is expected to name the same side that started against Russia – Raheem Sterling is the one player with his position under significant threat – and having dominated long periods of Saturday’s game, Lallana feels England are more than capable of extending their recent dominance over Wales.

England have won the last four meetings between the sides – their last defeat came back in 1984 – and Lallana claims Chris Coleman’s squad will not be relishing taking on a line-up that will be brimming with attacking threats.

“I think they’ll definitely be thinking about that,” he said. “Anyone would who is playing against us and looking at our team – and not just our team, but also our squad.

“There are attacking players on the bench we can use, and there are great options there. It’s definitely one of the best England squads I’ve been involved in.

“We played with no fear (against Russia), and that was one of the big positives we took from it. We were playing for each other, young players having no fear, and players were getting forward. If we can take that into our next couple of games, we will be very unfortunate not to go through.”