STURR CRAZY
Striker puts Wales in their place and delights Hodgson
ROY HODGSON revelled in putting boastful Wales in their place after super-sub Daniel Sturridge fired England to victory.
Gareth Bale put Wales ahead on the stroke of half-time but Liverpool striker Sturridge came off the bench to help set up fellow substitute Jamie Vardy before scoring a brilliant goal in added time.
The win comes after continuous jibes from within the Welsh camp regarding England and Hodgson admits he feels no sympathy for Chris Coleman’s side. ‘If I
had been watching from afar and not been with England and watching Wales play some other opponent, I would have felt very sorry for them,’ said the England manager. ‘But they will have to excuse me for not feeling sorry for them because I want to be pleased with ourselves.
‘It’s a long time since myself and the coaching staff have showed such joy at a goal.
‘We felt it would be important to win the game. We thought we might do that if we produced a similar performance as we did against Russia, controlling the game and the ball.
‘But the Welsh defended extremely well and restricted the number of goal chances. It took a lot of probing and effort, so I was pleased to see both go in.
‘Four points from two games is the minimum we deserve from the two performances.’
England, who are virtually assured of a place in the last 16, were on course for a defeat at the break after Bale scored his second free-kick of the tournament. But Hodgson’s bold half-time double substitution — replacing Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane with Sturridge and Vardy — changed the game.
‘Is that the best double substitution of my career? That’s a good question. When you’ve been in football a long time, you find it hard to remember,’ said Hodgson. ‘It’s certainly my best double substitution of these Euros, albeit after two games.
‘Substitutions are going to play a major part in this tournament.
‘The games come thick and fast. Each team has 23 players, in those 23, there will be a lot of players who feel hard done by when not selected and feel maybe they should have been selected.
‘You as a manager or coach selecting the team will sometimes find it hard to look beyond them, so I think it’s going to be a feature of the tournament.
‘Vardy has a lot of confidence, so I had no hesitation in putting him on at half-time. Harry (Kane) was looking a bit tired in the first half, so it was great to have someone like Vardy to step in.
‘And Marcus Rashford and Daniel Sturridge, in particular, to come on and give us something different when we need to ask questions of a packed defence.
‘It’s good when you’ve players who can do something different around the penalty area and ask further questions of their defence.
‘We wanted to inject more tempo and pace into our game, and for the players to take a few more risks and show confidence in and around the penalty area. They responded.’
Sterling’s half-time substitution casts doubt over his role during the rest of the tournament.
But Hodgson has defended the Manchester City star, saying: ‘I pick the team on what I see and how I think people have played.’
Hodgson will now turn his attentions to Monday’s clash against Slovakia.
And with a place in the knockout stages virtually guaranteed, the England boss admitted he will consider resting players, saying: ‘Resting players is going to be something we’ll have to think about. But we’ll be working hard to try and win the game.’