‘The manager wants us to take more responsibility on the pitch’

future would be determined by the level of progress “both in results and in the style of play”. Of course, England’s humiliation by Iceland forced Hodgson to resign but the FA are keen to develop an ‘England DNA’ and will expect Allardyce to remain consistent with the principles of possession-based football they see as the ideal moving forward. Allardyce has regularly been accused of employing a more rudimentaryrudiment style, but Lallana believes the early signs are that there will be a greater ddegree of flexibility that many anticipate.anticipa “He spoke to us about wawanting to win, which is quite simple really,” t h e L ive r p o o l pp ll ayay makemak r told Standard Sport. “We havehaven’t gone into too much detail aboutabou specific styles. I don’t think he hash a specificcific style. He has mementioned how, depending wherew we are playing and who we are playing, that the style may change.ch It sounds lilike a sensiblesible plplan. “He s e e ms ad adaptable, which is a good quality tto have. T h i n g s h ave bb ee ee n q u i t e straightforward anand I have been ver y iimpressmpressed with what I’ve seen.” The biggest immediateimmedi challengelenge for Allardyce will be galvanini sisingng a group of playplayers l eft frazzled by their Euros experience. None of those who spoke to the media at St George’s Park this week were able to offer a cogent explanation for the collective malfunction in Nice.

But Lallana revealed Allardyce is already encouraging players to show greater leadership on the pitch.

“Things change in games and the manager has made it clear to us that he expects us to take responsibility,” said Lallana.

“He can make substitutions, speak to us before the game and at half-time, but during the game, in the heat of the moment, he expects players to take responsibility. Whether that means making a decision, speaking to team-mates, I think that’s a good thing.

aw “We have not had too many meetings and he’s not wanted to throw loads of information at us straight away. Training has been very enjoyable and the lads are buzzing. Obviously, you want to impress your new boss.

“He has been very relaxed towards us. I think he was probably wary we could be low on confidence after the summer. I am looking forward to hopefully having a successful time over the next two years.”