Sam Allardyce started his England managerial career on a positive note. Adam Lallana scored in injury time to give England a 1-0 win over Slovakia.
It seemed like Sam Allardyce’s managerial debut as England national team head-coach would start off on the wrong foot as England looked set for another stalemate against Slovakia. The home side went down to ten men with their captain and former Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel receiving a second yellow card in the beginning of the second half.
Slovakia looked like they had sneaked a point after defending unrelentingly for more than 30 minutes with ten men but Adam Lallana played spoilsport as he calmly took control of the ball inside the box before slotting it past the keeper.
Twitter congratulated Sam Allardyce on his first win as England head-coach while also supporting the cause with some memes.
Allardyce will be celebrating tonight, with a pint of beef stock.
— GeorgeWeahsCousin (@WeahsCousin) September 4, 2016
Adam Lallana picks the right moment for his first #eng goal in 27 internationals. Saved Allardyce and the team from some painful headlines.
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) September 4, 2016
Not a totally convincing performance by England, deserved it in the end! Let’s see if Allardyce can change mentality in a finals #England
— Michael Eates (@michael_eates) September 4, 2016
Adam Lallana’s injury time goal also received some decent twitter responses.
England after Adam Lallana goalpic.twitter.com/WkIFqQgsZz
— Footy Jokes (@Footy_Jokes) September 4, 2016
Hodgson when Lallana’s goal went in pic.twitter.com/Ff7hG8IydG
— 101 Great Goals (@101greatgoals) September 4, 2016
Cool by Lallana, didn’t panic and finished well. Slowly adding goals to his game. Happy for him.
— Dave O’Connell (@DaveOCKOP) September 4, 2016
Fair play to Lallana, probably one of the most improved players under Klopp, finally starting to show his potential #LFC #Eng
— simonjevans99 (@simonjevans99) September 4, 2016
Can’t think of a player that deserves an @England goal more than Adam Lallana. Absolute quality player ??
— ToppoLovesADesperado (@Matthew_Toplis) September 4, 2016
On the other hand, some people lamented the indifference in playing style under the new manager while also questioning the manager’s comments on the victory and Rooney’s performance.
A Roy Hodgson performance from a Sam Allardyce team, anyone honestly expect anything else? Honestly? No me neither. #England #FA #bbcsport
— Paddy Emmerson (@Padster77) September 4, 2016
I know it takes a while to gel with a new manager but I honestly think it’s a massive mistake England have mad with Allardyce
— #TeamMystic4Lyfe (@BrandongoKAT) September 4, 2016
So, Wayne Rooney is the England manager. Allardyce just dons the suit. https://t.co/TLYBhbrV06
— Aanan Haque (@AananHaque) September 4, 2016
People bigging up Allardyce for only just beating an awful team compared to ours who were a man down most of the game? Absolute Madness
— #TeamMystic4Lyfe (@BrandongoKAT) September 4, 2016
Allardyce doesn’t want to tell players who’ve played international level before, what they should do? Not like it’s his job or anything…
— JJ Styles (@J_Wonderball) September 4, 2016
Just seen Allardyce interview, it was like listening to Hodgson. Has anyone seen them in the same room together? Same person? #England #FA
— Paddy Emmerson (@Padster77) September 4, 2016
It looks like the Three Lions faithful would need a string of better performances for Sam Allardyce in order to convince them that he is indeed the right man for the job. But, for now, Big Sam is unlikely to pay heed to the critics and would be rightly enjoying his England managerial debut win, something which is a dream come true for the manager.
