Chance for Hodgson to test some options

SLOVAKIA were dismissed as rank outsiders of Group B when they were drawn against Russia, England and Wales. However, having followed up a decent performance against Wales with an impressive one against Russia, England’s last group match is all of a sudden looking a touch tricky.

Slovakia are solid at the back and in Marek Hamsik and Vladimir Weiss they have a genuine threat further forward. Weiss can be hit and miss but 28-year-old Hamsik looks ready.

England’s 2-1 win over Wales provided as many questions as answers, and manager Roy Hodgson has a few issues to sort out.

This always looked like being the biggest selection headache after Hodgson included five strikers in the squad, all of whom have legitimate claims.

Daniel Sturridge must get the nod against Slovakia after a game-changing performance in the second half against Wales, and Jamie Vardy got the crucial equaliser. The fall guy seems to be Harry Kane.

What on earth has happened to Raheem Sterling? After his stellar 2013-14 season and promising World Cup, the winger now looks devoid of confidence.

It’s an issue acknowledged by Sterling and he has been seeing a psychologist to try to restore some self-belief, but as yet with not much tangible difference on the pitch.

In both matches so far, England have not conceded many chances, but have let in soft goals on both occasions.

The solution to the defence’s shakiness could be to stiffen up the shield in front of the defence and try to crowd out Slovakia’s key player Hamsik, but Hodgson’s problem is that he only selected one defensive midfielder in his squad.

One option would be to partner Eric Dier with Jordan Henderson or James Milner in a 4-2-3-1 to offer the back four a bit more protection, but that would mean Wayne Rooney or Dele Alli being sacrificed. GARETH Bale says Wales will have to keep fighting to qualify from Group B, after they suffered a 91stminute 2-1 defeat by England.

“The tournament is not over yet, we’re still in the thick of it,” said Bale. “We’ll go into the next game [against Russia] with even more strength.”

Chris Coleman’s side face Russia in their final Group B match tomorrow and can still qualify for the last-16 stage of the tournament.

“We keep fighting. We knew that even if it wasn’t a great result [against England], we are in the thick of things,” Bale said. — ©