ENGLAND: Hart, Walker, Smalling, Cahill, Rose, Rooney (c), Alli, Dier, Sterling, Kane, Lallana.
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Are you confident about England winning tonight?
Not really. I’ve been building down to this for months. Maybe the team will click, knock in three goals. Nobody can predict how football matches will go or what the results will be.
Did you believe the leaked line-up?
Yes. Most of the leaked England teams are correct.
Why is Adam Lallana starting?
Because he can find the bang!bang! twins in the front third. He can pass to Dele Alli or Harry Kane near the box or in the box. Lallana is a decent continuity player, quite two-footed, and with good vision, so he can thread a short pass that allows to someone to pinch a yard and shoot and score
Should Wayne Rooney be in midfield?
Of course. He’s far too slow to play up front and he certainly can’t play Pochettino-football, which is a hard-pressing game of attack/shoot/lose it/win it back/attack/etc
Is it an advantage to have five Spurs players who combine well?
I hope so. Something tells me this game is about Harry Kane. If Harry has a good night, we might have a decent tournament. He might give Dele Alli two killer passes.
Was Hodgson right to take 18-year old Marcus Rashford?
Absolutely. You don’t have to be 21 to score a goal. Rashford hasn’t failed and half this squad haven’t failed. In their qualifying games they often won without playing well. And that’s typical Engerland: we have far more heart than skill.
What do you know about Russia?
Not much. Only what I’ve read about the Zenit strikers Kokorin and Dzyuba, the CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky. They’re a team of veterans. Midfield sub Roman Shirikov is 34 and goalkeeper Akinfeev has never kept a clean sheet in 38 Champions League games.
What’s your overall feeling just before the kick-off in Marseilles?
I’m dubious. Apprehensive. I’ve slowly learned not to expect much from England. About 15 years ago, even 10 years ago, I was hungry for new disappointments. But Roy Hodgson didn’t win a game in Brazil and we were eliminated after two matches. He’s still there because there are no English managers qualified to do his job.
Prediction?
I’m taking a break from predictions. My job here is to make observations.Yesterday I said Kante and Payet would be France’s best players. And a lot of other people thought those two would be. Today, just before Gareth Bale took the free-kick that put Wales 1-0 up against Slovakia, my wife Jan, who is an Oxford-Welsh hymn-singer, said it was too far out. And I disagreed and said, “He can score from here. No doubt about it.” Wales won that game 2-1. Robson-Kanu came on and scored a late winner. Well done, lads!