Former England footballer, Matt Le Tissier termed the Three Lions manager, Roy Hodgson as a ‘coward’ for substituting http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Italy-c2926.
The 21-year old Welbeck was superseded close to the hour mark during the game, despite putting up a better performance than his Manchester United team-mate, Rooney.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 struggled to pose any significant danger for the Azzurri during the match, and eventually lost on a penalty shoot-out after playing out a 0-0 draw in 120 minutes of play.
Following the Three Lions exit from the competition, Rooney was subjected to severe criticism over his failure to make any impact whatsoever against the former European champions.
Nevertheless, the 43-year old, who capped 8 international appearances for England, took Hodgson to the task over his timorous decision of taking off Welbeck instead of Rooney. He opined that the latter was the centre of attention of everyone in England,
following his return to the team and the manager feared that his substitution will result in a violent backlash from the fans, if his team went on to lose the game.
On the other hand, he opined that Welbeck looked the better of the two, and could have posed more problems for the Azzurri defence later on in the game.
While talking to the reporters, he said: “It was clear after 50 minutes Rooney wasn’t going to have any impact. It was harsh on Danny Welbeck that he was the one taken off. He carried more of a threat. It was a coward’s decision.”
During the entire game, the Three Lions struggled to force their way into the Italian box, spraying just 4 shots on target as compared to 20 from their opponents. The defeat also meant that they have now failed to reach the semi-final or better in the European
Championships for the last 16 years.
With another one of their major tournament campaigns ending in disappointment, England will now set their focus on the World Cup qualifiers. They will go head-to head against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Moldova-c2957 in a Group H match on 7th of September.
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