Skip to content

Roy Hodgson and Wayne Rooney praise impact of Ross Barkley for England

England's midfielder Ross Barkley vies with Italy's midfielder Marco Parolo
Image: Ross Barkley: Skips past Italy's midfielder Marco Parolo

​Roy Hodgson and Wayne Rooney have praised the impact of Everton midfielder Ross Barkley after his substitute appearance for England's draw with Italy.

Barkley was brought on in the 55th minute and dived straight into the thick of the action, pushing forward and helping to rescue what had been a dour first half from England.

England manager Hodgson was quick to praise the influence of his substitutes.

“Obviously there were a lot of changes tonight and at the end of the game even more changes,” Hodgson told Sky Sports.

“We’ve got a whole team, basically, that didn’t play here tonight but the great thing was the ones who came on – and I’m thinking particularly of Ross Barkley and Andros (Townsend) – they did brilliantly well.

“Kyle Walker was lively, (Kieran) Gibbs played well throughout the game – so there’s an awful lot of positives to take out of the game now. There wouldn’t have been many positives to take out of the game had we played the second half like we did in the first and drifted to a defeat in a pretty stale sort of encounter.

Rooney was also grateful for the impact of the bench players, which included goalscorer Townsend - and said Barkley was an example of what young players could bring to the England team.

More from Italy V England

“Ross is a terrific young player and I think he can have an impact when he comes on and he did that, he took the ball, he ran at the Italian defenders and made it difficult for them.

“Hopefully he can kick on now for the rest of the season.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Roy Hodgson was satisfied with England’s second half performance against Italy, after a very lackluster first half.

While England’s second half provided a satisfactory ending to what was always going to be a difficult friendly fixture, it is the first-half performance that had Hodgson worried.                 

"The first half was nothing like the performances we're looking for," Hodgson said. 

"We fell way below the standards we've been setting.  

"The first half seemed to drift and drift very badly as far as we were concerned. The second half was much closer to what we're trying to do and there were moments we played quite well." 

"It's still obvious that we still can't turn it on as we, the coaches, would like the players to turn it on. Sometimes it takes a first half where things are nowhere near right for people to get themselves back on track."

Rooney added the team were "upset" with the first 45 minutes.

"We know we're a better team than what we showed in the first half," he said. "We were upset, I'll be honest, with the first half, in the dressing room everyone was upset with the way we performed and it showed great character from everyone who went out in the second half and put in that performance."

England next play the Republic of Ireland in a friendly fixture on June 7, with the next European qualification match away to Slovenia on June 14.

Around Sky