“They are a very talented group and I really think they can have a really good tournament, and even go on to win the title”.
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“He hasn’t said to me that’s where he wants to play”.
Wayne Rooney’s tendency to play through the middle, nearly akin to being a third striker, despite supposedly occupying a “No 10” role was a big talking point afterwards with the suspicion being that Hodgson’s determination to accommodate his captain at all costs could backfire. At least not quite like England attempted to play Kane, Vardy and Rooney. Darius Vassell is one player whose game oddly enhanced England in the early 2000s while Peter Crouch’s record of 22 goals in 42 England games is vastly superior to many more natural strikers.
The trio led England’s attack in the victory at Wembley on Thursday, but their link-up play lacked cohesion as Roy Hodgson’s men stuttered to an uninspiring victory thanks to Chris Smalling’s late header. “We’ll always try to play with style”.
“You have Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, all the forward players are very risky”.
The strategy failed to work the way Hodgson anticipated and, on a frustrating night, Deli Alli often found himself out on the left wing, when his best position is clearly in the centre, while Kane was taking corners, when he should have been ready to pounce in the box. Well, you have to be careful there because the three at the end were playing against a team which was tiring.
Starting next Saturday’s Group B opener against Russian Federation without Rooney seems unlikely, despite the questions raised by his and the team’s display against Portugal.
“But again, all I can say is what I’ve said all the way through and that’s hard for me – also being English – to start trying to teach people a manner if you like of playing which I’ve never subscribed to and they don’t subscribe to”.
“It’s down to me to show him I’m fit and show him I’m still the same player and that I’m ready to play for England”. He has a lot of quality, but it’s different to play in midfield and as a striker.
“For sure Cristiano is important for us”, Portugal boss Fernando Santos said.
“If you watch the game back over again, you will see some very good moments in our attacking play and you can say “look that’s good style”.
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“When you’ve got 15, 16, 17 very good players, all of whom could go on and have a good game, every time someone doesn’t reach the heights it should’ve been the other guy who played”. “England tried to attack by the sides and we were good in this position… and England didn’t have many opportunities to score”. “Some people might say we did, some people might say we didn’t”.
