Sam Allardyce believes his tactics against Croatia would have been criticised if he were England manager at this summer’s World Cup finals.
The Three Lions reached an improbable semi-final berth in Russia but were denied a final place by Zlatko Dalic’s men who ran out 2-1 winners after extra-time.
Allardyce, 63, began the last World Cup cycle as England boss, however, he would spend just 67 days in charge, overseeing one match in the process (a 0-1 win away to Slovakia), but that hasn’t stopped him envisaging what could have been, namely, a pragmatic approach which isn’t universally popular.
“It’s just a shame they didn’t get to the final. They were 1-0 up with 20 minutes to go against Croatia and it didn’t quite work out,” he told Goals On Sunday.
“You know me, I’d have got criticised for blocking it up and seeing the game out because you’re not supposed to do that now. France won the World Cup because they did that against Belgium [in the semi-finals].
“They saw what Belgium did against Brazil and even though (Didier) Deschamps was getting criticism from the French press for his style of play, they won it, which is what it’s all about. Defensively they were so solid, and that’s the basis for any success.”
England under Southgate
England, in Allardyce’s absence and now with Gareth Southgate at the helm, coasted their World Cup qualification, winning seven of their subsequent nine outings, drawing the other two, conceding three goals and bagging 17 in the process.
By reaching the semi-finals England enjoyed their best World Cup performance since 1990 when they were eliminated at the same stage under Bobby Robson.
The former Middlesbrough manager has to date won 14 of his 25 matches as Three Lions boss, giving him a 56% success rate, whilst they’ve registered 43 goals (1.72 per game) and conceded 22 (one every 102.2 minutes).
Next up for Southgate and company is a UEFA Nations League tie against Spain at Wembley on September 8.
The post Ex-England boss Sam Allardyce: I’d have blocked out Croatia appeared first on Squawka News.
From Squawka NewsSquawka News https://ift.tt/2KQLNRw
No comments:
Post a Comment