England record-breaker Wayne Rooney should have retired from global football after Euro 2016, says former goalkeeper Peter Shilton.
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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.
“He is spraying a few balls around, but I don’t think he’s being very effective”. They had a holiday, a pre-season, started the season with their clubs and then it comes to the first England game after Iceland and maybe there was nervous tension. I think it was possession for possession’s sake rather than trying to break the opposition down. “But more for the players than for me”.
The Tottenham star went in to the tournament as the country’s first-choice striker and the top scoring Englishman in the Premier League with 24 goals.
“People might talk now or if I don’t score in the next five or six games, it doesn’t bother me”.
The 30-year-old elected to move back into midfield for England’s 1-0 win over Slovakia and visibly struggled, drawing criticism for his immobility and cabaret of misplaced passes.
“It is different in terms of Steve Peters”, Allardyce said. I played in that role and helped us win the game. Even though they already deal with a lot of pressure, on an worldwide stage it’s a different type of pressure and they are very young. We were really unhappy.
The pain of Euro 2016 has by no means subsided, according to Eric Dier, whose assessment of its impact on the squad somewhat contradicted Allardyce’s and was a good deal more downbeat. The fans here were happy and the goal came in their end.
“I must admit, he did play a little deeper than I thought he’d play”.
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He has since been taken off set pieces by new boss Sam Allardyce after Rooney admitted he defied Hodgson’s tactics following the first game of the tournament against Russian Federation by taking the corners instead of Kane.
“As a player you retire when you’re ready”.
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After the game England manager Sam Allardyce said it was “not for me to say” where his captain played and added Rooney “played wherever he wanted to”.
