VARDY SEIZES HIS CHANCE
England show flair but defence gives Hodgson the jitters
THE loosening of Roy Hodgson’s tie over the course of an entertaining warm-up match was perhaps the best measure of what it will be like to follow England this summer.
Exhilarating at times but unnerving at others, they had their manager looking dishevelled by the end thanks to a brand of football boasting plenty of attacking flair but an alarming lack of finesse at the opposite end of the field.
England can certainly score goals, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy providing the finishing touches to inflict Turkey’s first defeat in almost 18 months.
But the quality of the defending, albeit in the absence of Chris Smalling, had Hodgson admitting that England are ‘not the finished article’. He added: ‘We need to stay more compact because we do not make life easy for ourselves.’
Hodgson has not necessarily made life easy for himself either, when supporters digest the fact he is allowing Vardy time away from the squad to get married. While his team-mates are training, Vardy will be having a party.
It might be considered a generous gesture towards a player who has already rescheduled his nuptials once for international duty. But selecting the strikers who will start against Russia on June 11 remains a conundrum Hodgson needs to solve and allowing such an important player to miss Friday’s game against Australia is bizarre.
This game did little to answer the question of how best to deploy the Leicester forward. Out on the left flank, prior to Hodgson switching to a midfield diamond in the 56th minute, Vardy was an isolated figure and, although he did appear more comfortable once partnered with Kane in attack, that is not necessarily helpful.
Yes, it was from such a position that he scored his decisive cisive 83rd-minute goal. Butt a wider position might be something Hodgsonn wants him to persevere with and Australia at Sunderland would have represented another opportunity, however eager Hodgson will be to look att Daniel Sturridge and d Marcus Rashford. Not to mention Wayne Rooney. y.
‘Forget the sins of your ffathers’th ’ was the message Hodgson had for his young team in the build-up to this game and they did play without the burden of history in front of a third-empty Etihad Stadium.
But they were not without sin, the manner in which Turkey were able to cancel out Kane’s early strike exposing vulnerability the better teams will exploit at Euro 2016.
As an attacking force England are exciting, with Kane nearly creating a goalscoring opportunity for Vardy inside the first 60 seconds and Kane scoring two minutes after that.
Kane was offside at the moment Dele Alli sent a delightful ball through the legs of Mehmet Topal but here, once again, was a demonstration of the telepathy between these Tottenham players; a pairing that will pressure Hodgson into finding an alternative role for Rooney — perhaps in the position occupied by Raheem Sterling, even if the Manchester City winger did ignite that particular move.
It was not long, though, before Turkey were troubling an inexperienced England defence.
If Kyle Walker excelled in blocking a stinging effort from Ozan Tufan, the 13th-minute equaliser was one England’s players will not enjoy watching again. Oguzhan Ozyakup’s ball for Volkan Sen caught Danny Rose horribly out of position, while Joe Hart’s decision to try to inter-intercept Sen’s cross was ill-judged.udged. England’s goalkeeper got nowherewhere near it, leaving Hakan Calha-lhanoglu with a tap-in and Rosese holding his head in despair.
Hart made amends with a save to deny Olcay Sahan in the final minutes. But it might still be worth Hodgson dipping into the archives and slipping some DVDs of Ashley Cole and John Terry under hotel room doors.
Of further concern to Hodgson was the lack of discipline. Alli has just served a three-match ban for violent conductuct and he responded to a late chal-challengelenge here by throttlinging an oppopponent, while Wilsherelshere apappeared to go into a tatackle with a raised eelbow. Wilshere did OK aalongside Eric Dier but the Arsenal man needs more matches. He did nnot look fit enough to gget a grip on the game. Kane scored his fiftfifth England goal but HodHodgson might tell him to be lesless greedy. He shoots ffrom almostl anywhere and takes all the free-kicks as well, when it would make more sense to have him at the heart of the action.
It might also be an idea to take the penalties off him, as he missed one in the 71st minute with an effort that shaved the post after Vardy had gone down, a little easily, after a challenge from Topal.
Dier was outstanding and even got forward to send a header into the sidenetting. Hodgson will have trouble leaving him out now. Ditto Vardy, given that is three goals in three games for the 29-year- old. Here he seized on a mix-up between Volkan Babacan and Ismail Koybasi to score from close range.
It will only boost the confidence of a side buoyant after that recent 3-2 defeat of Germany in Berlin. But, as Hodgson said, there also remains much work to be done.