Roy Hodgson leapt to the defence of Phil Jones after he was criticised for his performance in England’s 1-1 draw with Italy on Tuesday.
Jones looked off the pace at the base of a midfield diamond in Turin and he also allowed Giorgio Chiellini to brush past him and set Graziano Pelle up for Italy’s opener.
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Social media was awash with negative reaction to the 23-year-old defender’s performance, but Hodgson praised the Manchester United man instead, although he conceded his team looked more comfortable when Michael Carrick was deployed there after coming on for the ill Chris Smalling.
“In that first half we experimented with Phil in the centre of midfield because we feel that, in a destroyer-type role, that could be useful on occasion in the future,” the England manager said.
“I didn’t think Phil played badly in that position. But with the way we like to play, it was much better when Michael came on.
“I don’t want to criticise any players. I don’t think we should write it off as an experiment which didn’t work. He didn’t do badly at all.”
Jones was not the only poor performer in the first half.
Theo Walcott was substituted after 55 minutes, although he too was played out of position as he dropped into the No 10 role for a while.
Andros Townsend fared much better in attack, scoring nine minutes after being introduced from the bench.
Hodgson was full of praise for the Tottenham Hotspur winger as well as midfielder Ross Barkley, who also impressed in his role as a second-half substitute.
“To say I was more happy with the second half than the first would be the understatement of the year,” Hodgson said.
“We fell well below the standards we’ve been setting and the whole game was very much a friendly atmosphere.
“But the second half was much closer to what we’re trying to do and Ross and Andros can take a lot of credit for us injecting so much more tempo and pace into our game.”
Hodgson was also pleased with Harry Kane’s display on his first start.
Kane was unable to repeat his debut heroics a few days previous with another goal, but threatened in the second half against an experienced Italian back line.
“I thought Harry Kane did very well,” Hodgson said. “It wasn’t an easy game, playing against three very experienced, tough defenders. He got helped a bit more when Wayne went up front, but I’m more than satisfied personally with his performance.
“It’s been a good 10 days for him. He’s scored on debut and played 90 minutes of a tough game. He’ll gain a lot of benefit from that.”
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