Hodgson preferred Kyle Walker, who was arguably man of the match come the final whistle, ahead of Liverpool’s Nathaniel Clyne; meanwhile the former Fulham, Liverpool and West Brom boss made a decision to start captain Wayne Rooney, Jamie Vardy and Kane for the very first time in an England starting XI.
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The visitors opted to sit back and defend for the majority of the game and England were left frustrated before Chris Smalling grabbed the winning goal four minutes from time.
After prolonged calls for Wayne Rooney, Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane to play together, the vaunted trio’s maiden outing was a disappointment.
“We kept going and we got the win”. But it’s a good sign that we didn’t play well and won the game. “We’ve been asked to play with each other today and we won the game”.
Harry Kane says England players will be prepared to play however Roy Hodgson sets them up after experimentation in their recent friendlies. “We have to improve and in tournament football you have to improve to win games”.
Wayne Rooney (L) shakes hands with Roy Hodgson after being substituted at Wembley stadium in London on June 2, 2016.
“I was pleased with the composure, and the way we looked to play the ball out from the back from the start”.
Hodgson said that he would have preferred to have played 11 men, but believed it was a game the side still needed.
“If we are not going to be doing that in a system, I don’t know how we are going to be scoring goals”. “It is different, so if I can try to give them a bit of insight into that, I will”, he added. We need all of our players playing well.
The Three Lions head to France on Monday buoyed by three successive wins, although Thursday’s 1-0 victory against Portugal, much like the performances against Turkey and Australia, was unconvincing.
Lee Dixon echoed the thoughts of his former Arsenal team-mate, insisting England didn’t play to Vardy’s strengths.
“The two and a half weeks we’ve had together have been very intensive and the players have been excellent in the way they’ve buckled down, working hard to improve the shape of our team, movement in attack and shape in defence”. “It is a 23-man squad, not three players”.
“We’ll go to France reasonably confident we can keep this going but also knowing we’re not the finished article”.
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It deprives Santos of his most potent attacking weapon, but he called on the other players in his squad to step up to the plate in their penultimate warm-up game ahead of Euro 2016. “I’m not anxious about this because we are having good preparation”.
