ROY Hodgson has a lot to think about in the days leading up to England’s Euro 2016 opener, but his players showed “every sign” against Portugal that they understand what will be required over the next month.
The Three Lions head to France on Monday buoyed by three successive wins, although Thursday’s 1-0 victory against Portugal, much like the performances against Turkey and Australia, was unconvincing.
England toiled in possession and struggled to make an attacking impression, with Hodgson unable to effectively shoehorn the triumvirate of Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy into the same line-up.
There was a first clean sheet of the year, albeit against what was for the most part a 10-man Portugal side already without Cristiano Ronaldo, and Hodgson preferred to focus on the positives ahead of the Group B opener with Russia on June 11.
“I’ve always got a lot to think about,” he said. “I don’t think that’s specific to me and my job as England manager.
“I don’t think there’s any football coaches and football managers who don’t always have a lot to think about, especially after every game that’s played,
“You analyse the game, you analyse the performances and you make judgements.
“The good thing is I know these players, they know us, we know what we’re trying to do and certainly tonight I saw every sign that we were trying very hard to do what we think we need to do.
“We need to keep improving at it and we have to hope that players like Walker and Rose, who performed their roles in exactly the way we’d like them to, also happen to have very good games.”
Kyle Walker and Danny Rose impressed at full-back in a lacklustre overall display, with Chris Smalling’s late headed winner unable to mask the shortcomings.
The utilisation of Rooney, Kane and Vardy caused particular concern, with Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker among those questioning the decision to play the in-form strikers wide of the England captain.
Hodgson explained the “split strikers” were to help defend the wide areas and was prickly when asked about the system during the post-match media interviews.
“I was looking for him to play behind the front two as an attacking midfield player or deep-lying centre-forward, or number 10, or whatever you like to call it,” the England manager said of Rooney.
“He had no other instructions in that role other than the role that every player who plays in that position actually has i.e. to get on the ball, to get behind the two midfield players who are trying to mark our other two, get turns, and try to score goals and make goals for us.”
