BOSS NEVER FEARED AXE
If England top Group B If England finish runners-up
ROY HODGSON insists he didn’t fear the sack when England’s Euro dream was hanging by a thread against Wales. The Three Lions boss could have been toast if his team hadn’t produced a rousing second-half fightback in Lens on Thursday. But substitutes Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge scored the goals that transformed England’s campaign. The Lions are now in control of their scene who run like ike gazelles and sprint like the wind – when it would be right for him to move back a little bit.””
Hodgson added: ed: “I would still be prepared too use him as a front player – andnd against Wales I thought aboutt swapping him and Adamdam Lallana over.o
“But the fact is – and I’mI not ot trying to be arroganta nt here – I never paidp attentiontention to those who said Wayne should d be dropped or left out t of the 23.
“If you are the England nd captain and you are e Wayne Rooney, then you’re never far away from the headlines. nes. It goes with the territory. ory. “But we knoww what he can do for us – we analyse his performances. I have never paid attention to what other people sayay about him.”
Hodgson alsoso feels that handing ng own destiny – and a victory over Slovakia tomorrow night will guarantee their progress into the last 16 as the Group B winners.
But Hodgson said: “You can’t feel the pressure of what might happen.
“The beauty of games for me is that, once the game starts, then I can shut out all the things that are being suggested, and all the problems.
“I concentrate 100 per cent on what is happening on the field, what have we got to do and what changes are necessary. Once you allow yourself to Rooney the captaincy when he began rebuilding the England team two years ago after a disastrous World Cup in Brazil is also reaping dividends.
The England boss added: “The whole squad has changed in the last couple of years.
“We have a togetherness, we’ve got a character and we’ve made strides forward. We are still young, but as a group they have done very well. Wayne has played his part as the senior player and captain.” get caught up and start thinking, ‘Blimey, if this doesn’t go our way, this s could happen’, then you’re not doing your job as well as you can.
“As soon as that whistle blows, for that 92 minutes or whatever, I am full on.
“It is nice that people have praised us for our boldness, but if we had drawn or lost against Wales, it would not have made any difference to what we would have had to have done against Slovakia. We would have had to win anyway.” GROUP B
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