Hodgson satisfied despite criticism

ROY Hodgson was satisfied with England's display against Portugal, despite criticism over the ineffective deployment of Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy.

Having come through hard-fought 2-1 wins against Turkey and Australia, the Three Lions welcomed the side ranked eighth in the world as they wrapped up their Euro 2016 preparations last night.

Chris Smalling's late header secured a 1-0 victory to the delight of the sell-out Wembley crowd, but the performance left more questions than answers with England having stuttered against a side reduced to 10 men after a ludicrously high 36th-minute challenge by Bruno Alves.

It was an underwhelming display and the toothless attack was particularly concerning, with Hodgson unable to effectively shoehorn the triumvirate of Wayne Rooney, Kane and Vardy into the same line-up.

Former England striker Gary Lineker was frustrated to see Kane and Vardy tasked with providing width instead of the full-backs, while Alan Shearer was perplexed by the in-form pair's use.

"If you're going to play @HKane & @vardy7 then at least play them as centre forwards & not wingers," he posted on Twitter. "Or what's the point?"

Rooney was coy when asked about how he felt things went in attack and Hodgson was not prepared to add his "voice to the debate" after the match.

SPLIT

"We played with split strikers,'' the England manager said. "When you play with that system, you need your strikers to split.

"If you play with them going down the middle and Rooney in behind them, you would never be able to defend the wide areas.

"There were moments in the game where they were too wide, but basically speaking their job is to split and come together."

Hodgson was "not prepared to accept that we didn't play well" against Portugal, but captain Rooney knows better performances are needed if Euro 2016 is to be a success.

"We won the game but it was always difficult for us when Portugal went down to 10 men,'' he said.

"They made it difficult but we kept going and we got the win so that was obviously important to us.

"We know in these games there have been a lot of changes. We haven't been at our best, but we have won the three games which is important, especially as a young team.

"We are winning when we are not playing well. We have to improve and in tournament football you have to improve to win.

"We were the better team, even with 11 v 11, but we need to player better.

"We know that, but it is a good sign when you don't play as well as you can do, but you win the game."

"We didn't have many chances, none of us, so it is something the manager is working on and Portugal made it difficult.

"It is a 23-man squad, not three players. It is about all of us, not three of us."

England's 23-man squad have some time off before travelling to France on Monday and taking on Russia in their Group B opener on June 11 at Marseille's Stade Velodrome.