Sam Allardyce chose to start Rooney in a deep central midfield role against Slovakia and needless to say he was no good in that position.
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Adam Lallana’s low shot sneaked in as the clock ticked into the final minute of added time to hand Sam Allardyce a 1-0 win in his first game in charge.
In a midfield that was controlled by Wayne Rooney, Jordan Henderson, and Eric Dier, there was little penetration, despite their dominance in the center of the pitch. “I can’t stop Wayne playing there”.
With Wayne Rooney announcing in the week that he will retire from worldwide football after England’s 2018 World Cup campaign, much of the talk has surrounded the Three Lions captain in recent days.
Captain Wayne Rooney played a deeper than many had expected with Kane left to lead the line alone for the most part.
One might laugh at the notion of England expecting something new and different under Sam Allardyce from essentially the same eleven players as under Roy Hodgson, but we’ve seen just that happen at Chelsea twice in the last twelve months alone (once for the worse, once, so far anyway, for the better). He’s won everything at United, more or less, and at Champions League and domestic level.
“Once the team was announced, a lot thought I’d play higher – but it suits me for this team, the way we play”. So I’ve no problems playing there. “We have to try to be more effective breaking defences down”, conceded the England manager.
“It’s the biggest job I’ve ever had”.
Often cutting an isolated figure at the spearhead of England’s attack, Kane was happy with his own display even if he is still without a goal since the friendly victory over Turkey in May.
“We hit the post, had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside, had several shots on target and saw their goalkeeper make some saves, then Adam scores his first goal for England in the dying seconds”.
His departure signalled a period of intense pressure from England with Lallana hitting the post, and substitute Theo Walcott seeing a scrambled effort ruled out for offside, before the Liverpool midfielder snatched the last-gasp victor.
Buoyed by that late chance England started the second half positively, and they found themselves with a man advantage just before the hour.
But while that goal gives Allardyce three crucial points, as much for their symbolic value as their usefulness in a World Cup qualifying group England should navigate with relative ease from here on, it did not paper over every crack.
Wayne Rooney has moved to downplay the attention his role in the England team is receiving.
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Lallana ensured the reign got off to a dramatic start.
