Euro 2016: How England planned for late drama against Wales on Chantilly training pitch

1/47
James Olley17 June 2016

England's victory over Wales had a chaotic feel to it, given the timing of Daniel Sturridge’s winning goal, but do not be fooled into thinking it happened completely by chance.

Any success secured in stoppage-time is achieved with a degree of fortune but Roy Hodgson deserves recognition after planning for this eventuality in meticulous detail.

It is one thing to select an attack-minded squad but another to have the conviction to use those options when the pressure is at its most acute. Hodgson was on the brink of disaster at half-time here in Lens; Gareth Bale’s 42nd-minute free-kick put Wales in the ascendancy and cast serious doubt over England’s ongoing involvement at Euro 2016.

Yet Hodgson made the swift and decisive change to introduce Jamie Vardy and Sturridge for Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane — the former clearly bereft of confidence and the latter exhibiting fatigue after a gruelling campaign with Tottenham — and England went on to win their first ever European Championships game after trailing at half-time.

Vardy’s equaliser owed plenty to Wales captain Ashley Williams’s misdirected header, while Sturridge’s dramatic strike also benefitted from a fortuitous run of the ball, but that second goal, in particular, was a replication of precisely the combination play Hodgson and his players have worked on in training.

Last Sunday’s warm down in Chantilly was only a low-key affair, with those players who did not start against Russia taking part as the rest of the squad practised under Hodgson’s watchful eye. It felt as though the bit-part players were going through the motions in a light session but Hodgson extended access to the media —originally only supposed to be 15 minutes — so those in attendance could watch a keenly contested attack- versus-defence training drill.

It featured Sturridge, Vardy and Marcus Rashford operating as a front three, looking to link up with each other supplemented by two full-backs and two midfielders, encouraged to experiment and combine with each other to develop a greater understanding. That trio comprised the exact forward line which finished the game yesterday.

The drill was not anything especially unique but those of us who saw it were not surprised Sturridge and Vardy made an impact against Wales; both looked razor sharp, exuding the self-belief Sterling lacks at present. And in the final reckoning, Vardy and Sturridge each had a hand in the other’s goal — as far as is possible, England planned for it.

Rashford — who Hodgson singled out for criticism in that session — belied his inexperience to mark his competitive debut with several intelligent touches which helped turn the screw on Wales as full time approached.

England changed their entire front three during the course of this game and eventually found the combination to prise Wales apart. This was Hodgson’s victory more than anyone else’s. He was criticised for picking a top-heavy squad but only by doing so did he have the options required yesterday to find the winning formula.

This was also a vindication of his tactics and his bravery in changing things at the interval; the statement of intent in sending on Vardy and Sturridge at the restart could only have helped galvanise England while simultaneously warning Wales that their lead was about to be heavily tested.

England were behind at half-time in their second group game at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but Hodgson waited until the 64th minute to make a change, even though they needed a positive result with even greater urgency than at these Euros, so perhaps he is becoming something of a chancer in later life.

Of course, the counter-argument to any praise is that the manager was merely correcting a mistake he should not have made at the outset; what is clear is both Kane and Sterling now face a major battle to keep their place for Monday’s game against Slovakia.

“The third game was always going to be a team selection headache because now we have players who have played two matches in a short period of time and there are a lot of guys chomping at the bit to get their chance,” said Hodgson. “So that headache was always going to exist.”

Necessity is indeed often the mother of invention and Hodgson clearly had to change things given the situation but the boldness and speed with which he did so undeniably contributed to England’s success; just as his overtly cautious changes encouraged Russia to sniff out an equaliser last weekend, yesterday he put England on the front foot and encouraged them to take the risks which eventually paid off.

“Substitutions are going to play a major part in this tournament,” said Hodgson. “The games come thick and fast. Each squad have 23 players. In those 23 players, there will be a lot who feel hard done by and that they should have been selected. You as a manager or a coach selecting a team can sometimes find it hard to look beyond them, so it is going to be a feature of the tournament.”

Sturridge and Vardy seized their opportunities well and it was noticeable in the scenes that greeted Sturridge’s goal that England’s backroom staff and unused substituted celebrated with the same vigour as the main protagonists. There is a togetherness in the group that bodes well for future adversity when it comes; England cannot prepare for every eventuality but practice made perfect on this occasion.

Join 888sport today and get treble the odds on your first bet. New customers. Bet at normal odds. Extra winnings paid in Free Bet Tokens. Max £10. 18+ See site for full T+Cs Gambleaware. co.uk

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in