Adam Lallana snatched a 95th-minute victor against 10-man Slovakia in Trnava on Sunday (Monday in Manila) to prevent Allardyce from becoming the first England manager since Bobby Robson in 1982 not to win his first game.
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Adam Lallana netted a dramatic stoppage-time victor as England beat Slovakia 1-0 in Sam Allardyce’s first game in charge of the Three Lions in Trnava on Sunday.
The 23-year-old, whose last England goal came against Turkey at the Etihad Stadium in May, was selected ahead of Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge to play as a lone centre-forward by manager Sam Allardyce in Trnava. If England wants to perform well in Russian Federation in two years time, they can not do it with Rooney playing in midfield.
“It was a huge relief for me, I’ll tell you that now”, Allardyce said.
“Today we might have played more than England”.
That game was held up as indicative of England’s tournament failings, yet Allardyce on his debut as manager fielded nearly the same group of players against the same side and won.
Instead the onus was on England to break them down, with Rooney operating in midfield even though Allardyce had stated beforehand he would use his captain in the same position where he operates for Manchester United.
“All we can do is win against whoever we have in front of us but I think there is a long way to go before we repay everyone for what happened in the Euros”.
“He says, “You can play me anywhere you want me to play and I will try and play there”. Yes, he’s not to forget we want him to score goals.
But Allardyce said: “This is the most decorated outfield player in England”. “He did play a little deeper than I thought he’d play, but I was pleased with his performance”. “I’m happy. It was good for Mueller to get the goal and good for us”.
“It’s about the team and about us winning”.
England had one final chance, though, and Lallana duly accepted it, jinking free inside the penalty area to slot a low drive through the legs of Kozacik and give Allardyce a winning start.
England’s failure to make an early breakthrough evoked memories of France, however, when Roy Hodgson’s team dominated their three group games, but scored only three times. We called it the “Quarterback” position and Beckham ran the game.
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Muller opened the scoring with a second bite of the cherry on 15 minutes after his first shot was blocked and became the provider for Kimmich’s first goal for his country, his shot evading the lunges of two Norway players and nestling into the far corner of Rune Jarstein’s goal.
