“I thought it should have been a second goal (after Walcott’s) but the referee had a hard job, and we finished the job in the end”.
Advertisement
Wayne Rooney has become England’s most-capped outfield player in history.
“There is only one place at the World Cup – why should Slovakia go there, when we have England in the group?”
Slovakia went down to 10 men just before the hour mark as their captain, Martin Skrtel, was dismissed for two bookable offences, prompting Allardyce to throw attacking trio Dele Alli, Daniel Sturridge and Walcott into the fray.
Sam Allardyce (pic) described Lallana’s goal, which gave England a winning start in Group F, as “immense”.
“Once the team was announced, a lot of people thought I was going to play higher, but I think it suits me for this team, for the way we play”.
What would have become of the coin had Lallana not swept home his first global goal with virtually the last kick of the game is uncertain.
The Liverpool midfielder was a bright spark in a fairly uninspiring England display, striking the post with one effort, before stealing the points with a 95th-minute victor.
“I got this lucky penny off a lad today in the hotel”, he explained. 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.
“He says, “You can play me anywhere you want me to play and I will try and play there”.
Captain Wayne Rooney played a deeper than many had expected with Kane left to lead the line alone for the most part.
“I think that he holds a lot more experience at worldwide football than me as an global manager”.
“We controlled everything, we didn’t allow Norway to get into the game and we didn’t allow them any scoring chances”, said manager Joachim Loew.
Advertisement
“I think it was possession for possession’s sake for the opening 45 minutes, rather than trying to break the opposition down”, Allardyce said.
