It also meant that captain Wayne Rooney finished as a victor on a night when he won his 116th cap to become England’s most-capped outfield player.
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Wayne Rooney was capped for the 116th time in his country’s 1-0 win over Slovakia last night, and only Peter Shilton has played more (125).
England dominated possession against a stubbornly unadventurous Slovakia team, but it took the 57th-minute dismissal of Martin Skrtel for the visitors to take control.
Before the game he asked Allardyce for “one jersey of England National Team”.
“He is spraying a few balls around, but I don’t think he’s being very effective”.
Adam Lallana scored his first global goal in the 95th minute of the Group F qualifier in new manager Sam Allardyce’s first game in charge. Thomas Mueller has regained his confidence, putting his perplexing Germany goal drought behind him by scoring twice in the 3-0 win in Norway. But they did not have clear chances, so that is why we regret it, the 34-year-old added. He pushed up into a more orthodox number 10 role at half-time, only to retreat to a midfield holding role after Allardyce sent on Dele Alli for Henderson.
Allardyce said: “Mine and Wayne’s relationship, as we grow, will always be to promote him as captain, but first and foremost to make sure he’s playing his best football”.
“I am happy where I’m playing and I think I’m doing a good job”.
“I didn’t score in my first seven or eight games last season and then to go on and win the golden boot proves that it was just a matter of time”.
Overall, England struggled to shrug off familiar problems, controlling the game without looking like winning it. In the end, everyone back home was waiting with bated breath and we scored the victor.
It is unlikely to be the last we hear about Rooney’s place in the team, or his apparent influence on Allardyce’s tactics.
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All that may change, however, after he broke his England drought in his 27th worldwide with a goal that he admitted “had been a long time coming”. “It was only when we went a man down that they created more”. The performance was not pretty, but as England’s new maxim proclaims, the journey has begun.
