England midfielder Eric Dier says that the “scars are far from healed” after their Euro 2016 failure in the summer.
Advertisement
Sam Allardyce got his England reign off to a winning start in Slovakia on Sunday, but there were big question marks over Wayne Rooney after the game.
England endured similar struggles to those experienced at Euro 2016, with Slovakia happy to sit back and defend in the hop of sneaking a goal on the counter attack.
Sam Allardyce’s side secured a dramatic win in their opening World Cup qualifying clash thanks to Adam Lallana’s goal with virtually the last kick of the game.
Slovakia defender Jan Durica has slammed match officials following his side’s 1-0 loss to England, claiming the result was fixed.
The Liverpool midfielder scored a victor in the fifth minute of added time to secure three points in England’s opener 2018 World Cup qualifier under new manager Sam Allardyce.
Speaking after the game, Allardyce declared Rooney had the freedom to play where he sees fit.
“There is only one place at the World Cup”, Durica told reporters.
Slovakia’s players were floored as England wildly celebrated going top of the fledgling Group F table – and the moment left a beaming smile on the face of their relieved new manager.
‘Of course, they will always prefer the stronger team. “We were really unhappy”, he added.
“The Englishmen knew that they are one player more, so, logically, they began pushing forward and creating the pressure”. “We stuck to our plan, we kept our shape and tried to penetrate them in the right areas but also without giving them too many chances”.
Former England striker Shearer hailed Lallana’s display, stating that he was England’s best player on the day, and suggested to The Sun that his goal was a reward for his performance.
“That feeling when you score your first goal for your country”.
Advertisement
“It’s been a long time coming”, Lallana said. “The only thing I mentioned about the past was to learn from it and the only thing I said was don’t feel like that again next time around”.
