Rooney’s role in the England side has been the source of much speculation, with the team captain – a striker for most of his career – starting in a withdrawn role against Slovakia before dropping deeper following the second-half introduction of Dele Alli.
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Sam Allardyce claimed victory in his first game in charge courtesy of Adam Lallana’s goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time, with the Slovakia having to play the final 33 minutes with 10 men after Martin Skrtel was dismissed for two bookable offences.
“Of course, they will always prefer the stronger team”.
“I think they were probably a bit nervous”, Allardyce said. Lallana had cruelly seen a long-range effort cannon off the inside of the post before his goal went in with minutes to spare and it was no less than he deserved. “We were really unhappy”. “Englishmen knew that they are one player more, so, logically, they began pushing forward and creating the pressure”.
“If they would have created some great action and scored nice goal, you say it is okay, but not such as goal in the stoppage time”.
Skrtel receieved a double yellow due to his fouls on Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane. “I will have a check on it and see if it’s fully okay, but there were a few challenges that I felt could have earned him a yellow card but it didn’t come”.
“The only thing I mentioned about the past is to learn from it and don’t feel like that again next time around”.
“So he played him in a role that gave him the freedom to roam around the park”.
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The win against Slovakia sends England to the top of the group F table along with Scotland who had won their first game against 5-1.
