England 2 France 0: The show had to go on, so Dele Alli took centre stage

The show must go on, so it was good to be concentrating on 'the most important of the least important things in life' again

England youngster Dele Alli (Getty Images)

The most important point about last night’s match at Wembley was that it took place at all, but today Roy Hodgson will still sit down and analyse the DVD as if it were a conventional pre-tournament friendly.

He needs to because after last night England have only four matches at most before Euro 2016 and the manager needs every one of them if he is to construct a cohesive team.

But he also needs to because this match should have meaning beyond the fact of it happening. The show, life itself, needs to go on.

Of all the words spoken in the match build-up among the most potent were those of a mother from Shropshire, here with her family, interviewed on radio. The tickets had been bought as a birthday treat for their six-year-old. She was asked if she feared bringing her children, given the horror in Paris. Her reply was to say they had discussed the issue with the children and wanted to demonstrate to them that they should not live in fear, that they should not be put off by acts of terror. The birthday was to be celebrated. In the same spirit Dele Alli should be able to look back on his first international goal, and Eric Dier his first Wembley start, with a sense of joy, not sadness. And Hodgson should be able to believe this match had value when weighing judgement on his players

It did, at least as much as most international friendlies. In some respect the strange, unique, atmosphere was a good test of a young English footballer’s temperament (though it would be unfair to judge their opponents by the same measure). Just as in a high pressure tournament match the key to a good performance was setting aside the background and concentrating on the game.

To the players’ credit, especially the visitors, the birthday boy, the 71,000 other fans, and both managers were treated to an often authentic match, very much in the style of modern international football. Which is to say it was largely a contest played in midfield with lots of quick, short, sideways passes as both sides probed for an opening. If the absence of much pressing high up the pitch betrayed a lack of intensity there were still some feisty tackles, not least the one on Morgan Schneiderlin made by Alli before his goal.


 Wayne Rooney celebrates scoring England's second
 (Getty Images)

The goal capped a good half by England who had initially seemed more unsettled by the circumstances of the match than their visitors. It was as if, like the England fans, they felt it good manners to cede the stage to their traumatised visitors.

Perhaps then it was wise for Hodgson to start with Joe Hart, despite the pressing need for Jack Butland to gain international experience. The Stoke City goalkeeper can hardly be said to have learned much from his previous outing, his first 90-minute one, in Lithuania last month when he was effectively a spectator. Moreover he is in form fine enough to amply justify his inclusion

Starting with Hart suggested Hodgson, after the chasing Spain gave England in Alicante last week, did not trust his re-shaped defence to protect their ‘keeper in those first, potentially emotional 45 minutes. Hart did, indeed, have to be alert denying Anthony Martial early on, later rushing from his line to intercept Hatem Ben Arfa’s smart pass. Hart’s leadership was also evident as he implore his young team to settle quickly after Alli’s goal and not allow France an easy advance from the subsequent kick-off.

Butland was granted a game after the break, and made a good save from Martial, but by then the attention was very much on Alli. He and the more subdued Ross Barkley played in tandem ahead of Dier with Harry Kane as the front man, Raheem Sterling wide and Rooney filling spaces in one of those free roles which actually require considerable discipline.

This fluid forward line worked well. When in range of goal Kane shoots on sight, and does so powerfully and accurately, but in deeper positions he has a fine eye for a pass and Alli should have done much better with one raking ball. Rooney played as if he had a point to prove after being omitted in Spain and the way he had the measure of Laurent Koscielny recalled Manchester United-Arsenal matches of the late Ferguson era.

Sterling, too, was lively at times, if given far too much space to pick out Rooney for the latter’s goal. At that point it began to look as if the French had been drained, mentally and physically, by the wrenching emotion of the last few days. Just as one feared for them, however, Lassana Diarra appeared, which lifted his team-mates.

The eye, though, kept being drawn back to Alli and those twinkling orange boots that also pack a shot and a tackle. Hodgson’s preference is to play down the media’s weekly desire to proclaim a new superstar but if Alli maintains his soaring progress it will be hard to quieten the clamour for him to be handed a starring role.

And so what if there is hype and headines? As long as Alli is well-advised and level-headed it is a harmless enough pursuit. Football, as Carlo Ancelotti likes to say, is ‘the most important of the less important things in life’, and it felt good to be concentrating on it again.