“It is nice to have played another game for England so that the one at the Euros is not the last one now”. That is the message from former England captain David Beckham as he leapt to the defence of embattled skipper Wayne Rooney.
Advertisement
The stuffed Lions that travelled with the team during their ill-fated Euro 2016 campaign have been consigned to storage but as Allardyce reflected on Adam Lallana’s 94th-minute victor in his first game as national boss, he held a newly-acquired memento in his hand.
England manager Sam Allardyce watches the action from the touchline during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying match at the City Arena, Trnava. We keep plugging away and I thought as a unit we played brilliantly.
England manager Sam Allardyce intends to use the experience of Wayne Rooney to benefit the team, regardless of where he plays.
Allardyce added: “I think that he holds a lot more experience at global football than me as an worldwide manager. We have dominated the game and got a very important win”.
“I think I saw a little nervous tension and it’s bound to be in the back of their mind”. And if you are playing well and contributing, that’s great’.
United manager Jose Mourinho has played Rooney behind new striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic this season, while Roy Hodgson, Allardyce’s predecessor as England boss, selected him as a midfielder at Euro 2016.
That’s not to say that he’s going to revolutionise the England team, but he has to learn from old mistakes and make improvements, including potentially dropping Rooney. “Why should Slovakia go there, when we have England in the group?” It’s not a big thing and I think there’s a big over-reaction to it.
Allardyce described Lallana’s goal, which gave England a winning start in Group F, as “immense”. “I can only hope we get stronger”.
Advertisement
“It’s difficult to break them down, they’re going to try harder and defend longer but finally we got what we deserved with one in the last minute – perhaps their goalie shouldn’t have stayed down injured so long”.
