Roy Hodgson claims England 'played some very good football in the second half' despite uninspiring Portugal win

1/13
James Benge3 June 2016

Roy Hodgson professed himself happy with England’s performance despite the uninspiring nature of his side’s 1-0 win over 10-man Portugal.

Chris Smalling’s 85th minute header from substitute Raheem Sterling’s cross ensured England travel to France with three wins from three in their warm-up games but it was scarcely a result they deserved after a pedestrian, anxious display that saw them struggle to exert themselves on visitors who spent nearly an hour one man short after Bruno Alves straight red for a face-high boot on Harry Kane.

In particular the much-vaunted midfield diamond, with Wayne Rooney at its tip and the Premier League’s top scorers Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy leading the line, seemed a poor fit for several of England’s attacking talents.

With just nine days until England’s Euro 2016 tournament begins against Russia in Marseille there seems much to concern Hodgson yet he was defiant when questioned about the quality of his side’s display.

“It’s never easy to play against ten men, everyone knows that,” he told ITV. “I thought in the second half we played some very good football, especially in the last 30 minutes when we brought some fresh legs on.

Player Ratings: How England performed in their Euro 2016 warm-up matches

1/27

“Our composure throughout the game was good and I think it was a good preparation game, even if it would have been better if we could have played against 11 men. I’m really pleased with the three wins against good opponents and pleased that we kept a clean sheet while never looking like conceding a goal.

He added: “It would have been a better game if it were 11 against 11. They would have come forward more, we would have had more opportunities to attack in behind. They defended very, very well with a lot of players behind the ball. There’s nothing wrong with that, they’re entitled to do that.”

The role of captain Rooney is likely to come under increasing scrutiny in the build-up to the competition proper.

Rooney’s deployment behind Kane and Vardy often sent the front two scurrying out wide, from where they struggled to make an impact, but Hodgson refused to offer any comment on the performances of any of his attacking trio.

“It went as well as it went,” he said. “I’m not prepared to add my voice to the debate, to say this is better or that is better. We need both systems, we need all our players playing well, doing what they can do well.

“In every game of football some players will have a really good night, others won’t, but I’m not prepared to stand here and start criticising some players while praising others. I’m really happy, the 23 players have really done well.

“If I start being dissatisfied when we win three games in a row against Turkey, Australia and Portugal then I’m going to be a very, very hard coach to please.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in