new
Euro 2016 >

England midfielder Jordan Henderson: What we must do to win Euro 2016

Wednesday, June 22, 2016 Source: Dailystar.co.uk

The Three Lions have been left licking their wounds in the wake of Monday night's disappointing goalless draw against Slovakia in St Etienne.

Roy Hodgson's men dominated but were unable to break their opponents down, ruining their chances of winning Group B.

Failing to kill-off teams has become the tale of the tournament for England following a campaign that promised so much but has delivered too little.

England have had more shots on goal (65) than any other side at the finals.

But just 15 of those have been on target and only resulted in three goals in three games.

Hodgson named five strikers in his 23-man squad, but what looked like England's greatest strength is turning out to be their weakness.

Henderson admits it is becoming a concern and wants Hodgson's men to start taking their chances or face up to the prospect of going home.

He said: "For 90 mins we dominated with the ball. I still feel we created some good chances to win the game, but we just couldn't quite finish them off and get the ball in the back of the net.

"It's certainly something we need to improve on. When teams have sat in against us we've struggled to find the net.

"We've got enough quality in the team. We need to make sure that in the games coming up we finish teams off properly.

"For the complete performance definitely we need to improve in front of goal.

"We're creating chances. We just need to finish teams off. At some point we will win by two or three nil, but we just need to improve in that final third."

England now face an anxious wait to discover who they will face in the last 16 in Nice on Monday.

It will be one from Hungary, Iceland, Portugal or Austria while hosts France are potential quarter-finals in Paris should the Three Lions make it that far.

Failing to win Group B could end up costing England dear, but Henderson insists England are still capable of beating anyone.

The Liverpool midfielder said: "Maybe the path ahead is harder, but at the end of the day you need to beat the best teams if you're going to win the competition.

"You need to beat them no matter what stage we're at. But we're confident.

"We won't focus on the games on Wednesday (in Group F). We'll get whoever we get.

"We'll look at ourselves, look over the last few games and look at what we need to improve on - and then look forward to Monday."

Henderson has worked overtime to make Euro 2016 after damaging knee ligaments in April, an injury that threatened his participation in the Euros.

He left it late to make Hodgson's final squad, only to see captain Wayne Rooney drop into a deeper midfield role and make competition for places in that area stronger than ever.

But Henderson has no problems with competing against his skipper and talisman.

"I am just ready to play when the manager tells me too," he said. "Obviously Wayne is a big player for us and he's the captain.

"To be fair I've seen him play there for Manchester United a few times and he's done well. He's a very good footballer. It doesn't really matter where he plays. He plays well.

"But the 23-man squad is used in the competition the best we can, to use players and rest players.

"The midfielders have done very well. Dele Alli has been brilliant, Eric Dier has been brilliant and Wayne has been fantastic.

"So there's a lot of competition in the middle of the park, but that goes for every area of the pitch.

"It's down to the manager and what team he feels he needs to win the game."

  • Standings
    • A
    • B
    • C
    • D
    • E
    • F
  • Top Scorers
Ranking Player Country GS (PEN)
Top 3 Teams of the Past EUROs
  • Year
  • Winners
  • Runner-up