Sam Allardyce only took charge of England for one game, but has heaped praise on the attitude of one Tottenham Hotspur player.
Sam Allardyce has told Monday Night Football on Sky Sports (broadcast 11th September 2017 from 19:00 pm) that Tottenham’s Danny Rose was the player who surprised him the most during his brief spell as England manager.
Allardyce was given the job in the wake of Roy Hodgson’s departure after Euro 2016, but only took charge of the national team for one game before he left the role in controversial circumstances later that year.
The game he oversaw was the World Cup qualifier in Slovakia, with Adam Lallana bagging a 95th minute winner for the Three Lions. But when asked about which member of the squad surprised him the most – for potentially positive or negative reasons – Allardyce suggested that the Spurs defender made the biggest impact.
“Danny Rose at left-back,” he told Monday Night Football on Sky Sports when asked who surprised him the most.
“He pulled a hamstring and never said anything until after the game was finished, which wasn’t very pleasing for Tottenham and Mauricio Pochettino as I know, but for me, that showed real character because we only won in the last minute.”
Of course, that answer may come as something of a surprise to some Tottenham fans as it comes just a handful of weeks after Rose gave a controversial interview to The Sun which arguably threw his future into doubt.
But perhaps the answer also hints that the full-back will prove to Mauricio Pochettino, the Spurs squad and the disgruntled supporters that he will be able to move on from the issues he apparently had with the club, and concentrate on helping the side challenge near the Premier League’s summit once again.
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