Hodgson describes Alli as 'close to faultless' in England win
Roy Hodgson described Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli’s performance in England’s 2-0 friendly win over France as “close to faultless.
Alli marked his first full appearance for the national side with a stunning first-half strike to put England in front at Wembley before Wayne Rooney volleyed home a second three minutes into the second half.
England boss Roy Hodgson believes Alli’s display proves he need not worry if he is without the likes of Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson again in the future.
Hodgson said: “It was close to a faultless performance – I didn’t think at any moment in the game that he was going to be anything other than top class.
“It is amazing that at his age to have no previous experience unless you count a few 10-minute substitute appearances, to go in and do what he did tonight was quite outstanding.
“I’ve certainly seen some players who want to say to me, you might have a few big names missing, but you don’t have to worry because we’re here, and that’s a nice thing not only for me to know but for the country to know.”
Hodgson believes the two recent friendly fixtures will stand his squad in good stead for the more competitive challenges to follow, with Alli’s emergence underlining the increase in options at his disposal.
He added: “I thought we played very well in the first half – as well as we’ve played here at Wembley for a long time.
“These two games have given me what I wanted to see – in the Spain game I saw a team that defended very well and looked quite dangerous on the counter-attack, and tonight I saw a different type of opponent and approach and I thought the players handled it very well.”
