Roy Hodgson was prickly – understandably so given the level of criticism aimed at him from media, supporters and, tacitly, those on high at the Football Association in the wake of a draw with Slovakia that has complicated England’s route into the later stages of Euro 2016. But, as he sheltered in the shade of the solitary stand at the Stade des Bourgognes with one eye on Iceland in Nice in the knockout phase, his resolve was clear enough. He had his own case to state and nothing was going to deflect him off piste.
It was the suggestion that the decision to make six changes to his starting lineup in Saint-Étienne, including the omission of his captain, Wayne Rooney, had effectively jeopardised progress that had raised his hackles. He was having none of it. Danny Rose and Kyle Walker, he pointed out, rarely play three games in a week for Tottenham, where Mauricio Pochettino so often rotates his full-back pairings. Then there were Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy, the strikers who had been thrown on at the break against Wales and had duly scored the goals that provided England’s solitary win of the section. They merited inclusion.
“That side that won the game in Lens in the second half against Wales, if I remember correctly, was actually applauded as the right team,” he said. “So, if you take into account the full-backs, you’re bringing it down to two players and asking whether Dele Alli and Rooney should have played in place of Jordan Henderson and Jack Wilshere.”
An attempt to interject and move the conversation in another direction by one journalist was swatted away. “Just one second … I have to go through the histories first because, otherwise, I just accept blanket [criticism]. So many nonsenses are said to me and written and I don’t often get a chance to put things right. So I’d like to put one or two of them right now. So it boils down to those two. What did you think Henderson was like?”
The Liverpool midfielder had been one of England’s more effective performers at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard and, once that was conceded, the crux of the manager’s argument was exposed. “So we’re talking about one man. And that is amusing to me because, of all the players I’ve actually had to stand up and put my neck on the line for, it’s been him who I’ve defended, stuck my chin out for and said: ‘I don’t care what anyone else thinks, Wayne Rooney is going to the Euros, Wayne Rooney is our captain, Wayne Rooney is going to play.’ And now we didn’t score against Slovakia despite 29 shots, 15 corners and God knows what else because, apparently, Wayne Rooney didn’t play more than 30 minutes? Well, excuse me ...
“We won all three of our preparation games. I don’t think we played particularly well in any of them but we won. So everyone was hunky dory and fine. Here, in my opinion, we’ve played better but we haven’t won. So, if results are bad, therefore we are bad. That’s life. I accept it. I’m not trying to gloss over that in any way. But I can’t be as facile as to say: ‘Yeah, you’re right. I wish to God now we had played Wayne Rooney’ because I don’t know, if I had played him, the score would have been any different. It wasn’t when he came on.”
This was Hodgson at his most feisty, a manager clearly infuriated – for all his insistence to the contrary – by suggestions his own chances of earning a contract extension beyond the tournament had been undermined by that failure to claim Group B. The assumption, naive as it may be, is that Iceland should be beaten at the Allianz Riviera to secure a quarter-final against France or Republic of Ireland. Elimination in Nice would surely signal the end. “I’ve been working for 40 years and the game is cruel,” he said. “There is no correlation sometimes between how well a team has done and the result. That is something that is part and parcel of my life as I deal with criticism and judgments that are made.
“We should have won all three group games, shouldn’t we? And ‘seeing teams off comfortably’ hasn’t happened so far for anybody. I don’t think there’s been a game yet where a team has seen another side off comfortably. Of course we’re expected to win in Nice. We were the favourites to win the group, we were expected to win all three games. We should have won all three and we have only ourselves to blame for not getting the results we wanted and should have had.
“I don’t think there is anything to defend about the way the actual team has worked: the amount of effort put in, their desire to win the game, the quality of their passing and movement, the control they have had. You don’t get prizes for possession. You don’t get prizes for the most corners. You don’t get prizes for having the best of the play. You get prizes if you win. And really our performance against Wales was no better than our performance against Slovakia or Russia. Arguably, in many areas, it wasn’t even as good. But we won so that was a great game and the other two were bad games. That’s how it is.
“The only question really is can we take our chances? And, of course, we haven’t. But in some ways I still prefer that, where the team I am coaching is in control and looks very much as if they’re going to win, rather than sitting heart-in-mouth every time the opponent attacks because you think they might score against you. Now it’s very simple. If we don’t win, we go home. So we had better start making sure we score our goalscoring chances.”
The manager had sent Gary Neville, Dave Watson, Andy Scoulding and two scouts to Iceland’s game against Austria in their final group fixture while he and Ray Lewington watched Portugal draw with Hungary. He has known the Iceland coach, Lars Lagerback, for 40 years having initially been invited up to Hudiksvall during his time in charge of Halmstad to work with the Swede’s staff. “I went up there to do a coaching session for his coaches,” added Hodgson. “His manner, demeanour and knowledge of the game, the way he organises teams …it is second to none and he has reaped the rewards for that.”
This is Lagerback’s sixth major tournament and, while coaching Sweden, he did not lose in six encounters with England. That is a trend Hodgson’s side must buck in Nice.
