England’s football boss has huge sympathy with his rugby union counterpart following their World Cup flop – because he went through exactly the same kind of agony past year.
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It was his finest night in England’s colours and when Barkley plays with this freedom and exuberance, it is easy to see why Hodgson sees flashes of Paul Gascoigne in the Everton player.
When asked if maintaining the record was now a matter of personal pride for the players, Chelsea defender Cahill replied: “For sure, but we don’t want to get too carried away with it. It’ll be a special day and I want to enjoy it as much as I can”. We started very, very well and we knew we had to be patient and persistent.
Speaking to ITV after the game, the manager said it had been “as we thought it would be”.
“Normally you say that and probably not a lot of people expect to do so, but it is nice (on Monday) night we will have the opportunity to do so”.
“Not similar players, but he plays a similar role and can do a similar job”.
Adam Lallana would have pleased new Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp in the early stages with his energetic bursts off the right wing and he found Ross Barkley on 12 minutes inside the area but the Everton man was denied by Mihkel Aksalu.
Despite those injuries – to central midfielders Michael Carrick, Jordan Henderson, Jack Wilshere and Fabian Delph – there is no guarantee Alli will start Monday’s qualifier. Estonia are not yet eliminated, but a loss tonight will take them out of contention indefinitely. “That’s what Ross has done”.
Joe Hart, Gary Cahill and James Milner, who all played 90 minutes against the Estonians, will also not travel. Instead it was Sterling who doubled the advantage, tapping in after being teed up by substitute Jamie Vardy.
With Manchester City star Hart released by Hodgson for the trip to Vilnius, Butland, 22, is in line for his second cap after impressive performances for Stoke this season.
“I’m optimistic these players will recover fully from injury and will have a period of time between their recovery and France, and I will be able to consider them”, he said. We think he is a good goalkeeper.
“It’s important to be seeded for the European Championship”. “We always believed in him and he’s certainly deserved his chance”, Hodgson said of Butland. “That’s what we’ve understood”.
And Walcott, who has now been capped over 40 times by his country, has insisted that even after scoring eight global goals, each one still feels like a “dream come true”.
“We keep our feet on the ground”.
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Where the 19-year-old may have to become more attacking and ambitious on the ball – something that will come with time – he already looks more composed than Barkley, who can often be very wayward for both Everton and England, especially on one of his off days.
