France beat Russia 4-2 and Kante scored the first goal.
And Germany thrashed Italy 4-1.
So England gave the Germans a huge wake-up call last Saturday night and after that the Germans thumped Italy, the team they traditionally fear the most.
Walcott and Sturridge don’t fit into the Pochettino pressing game that Roy Hodgson has to adopt.
So neither should be in the 23 for Euro 2016.
After England lost 2-1 to Holland at Wembley, Roy Hodgson admitted, “It was nothing like the performance I was hoping for.”
We didn’t play at all for 28 minutes because the team had eight changes.
We produced only five incisive moves in the whole game, finding a good tempo with one-touch and two touch passes.
Jamie Vardy scored a fine goal from a tasty move started by John Stones. The defender found Milner on the left flank, Milner’s crossfield pass was dummied by Sturridge, Lallana found Kyle Walker wide, and his cutback was converted with panache by Vardy.
Danny Drinkwater, Leicester City’s Mr Reliable, was voted Man of the Match.
All England managers have to be politicians who try to please as many parties as possible, while also trying to devise a game-plan and stick to it.
Berlin gave Hodgson his game-plan. We have to develop an ensemble pressing apparatus like Spurs and play an organised, youthful game of iniative and tempo.
His job between now and the Russia game on June 11th is to work on Spurs-type drills, to rehearse protocols for the most commonly occurring situations when we lose the ball. If we can do that, England will have a pattern of play that’s flexible and fit for purpose.
THAT ‘S THE ONLY WAY FORWARD. Because we don’t have world class defenders, or much experience, so we have to make up in energy & shape what we lack in flair and craft.
Adam Lallana is our keep-ball guy, our most versatile and mobile technician. He’s a better player now because Klopp’s got him fit.
Myles’s Golden Rule No1 is still: Look at what managers do, not at what they say.
Lallana started both games, as Smalling and Rose did.That tells us a lot about Roy’s thinking.
He’s the link-man at Klopperpool, who, like Spurs, are a counter-pressing energy team.
What we saw in these two games is that England can play without Rooney but can’t play without Lallana.
Sometimes in a group of footballers, something happens, something clicks, and the coach has to go with it. And it’s no coincidence that this evolution has happened while Rooney has been out injured.
Of course Rooney will go to France, as he has tournament experience.
Basically, football is a game of partnerships and trios.
If you play Harry Kane, play Deli Alli with him. If you start Vardy, start Drinkwater.
We lost to Holland because of an awful decision by Spanish referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz, who didn’t give an obvious foul by striker Vincent Janssen on Phil Jagielka, so that Janssen was allowed to pass to sub Narsingh at the far post.
England 1 Holland 2 was a bad result in a meaningless game.
Having said that, the match and the DVD are more useful to Hodgson than six training sessions.
Since Brazil 2014, only Spain had beaten England before Tuesday night.
We now have 9 weeks to become good enough to get out of Group B, in which we play Russia, Wales and Slovakia.
Obviously, we don’t expect to win Euro 2016 or get to the final.
We just want a run for our money.
Easter this year has been a relaxed and rather jolly period that seems to be still going on.
When Saturday comes, it’s back to Arsenal v Watford.
And a gegenpressing battle at Anfield between Klopperpool and Tottenham.
Followed by Barcelona v Real Madrid.