Dwight Yorke has been incredibly critical of Adam Lallana in a recent interview, insisting that he should be nowhere near the England team and claiming that even he could prevent the Liverpool man from scoring, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Lallana has arguably been one of England’s best players at the tournament so far, but the Manchester United legend has blasted for him not scoring more goals.
“Lallana doesn’t score enough goals and he’s had chance after chance. At international level, you can’t afford to carry people,” he said.
“He hasn’t really succeeded at Liverpool yet he walks into Roy Hodgson’s team. It’s bizarre. What has he done so far?
“I know it’s all about opinion but Lallana gives me nothing. He has proven it in the two games he’s played; he has not scored, he has not created a goal. He just hasn’t got it.
“Listen the guy is a decent player, but you are talking about the first eleven for England and he’s in it. It’s madness.
“I could play against Lallana now and he wouldn’t get past me. He couldn’t out-football me. [Raheem] Sterling would make me look like an old man.”
This is an absolutely ridiculous statement to make, as despite Lallana missing a handful of chances during the Euros he’s been performing superbly. He’ll be the first to admit that he’s desperate to get off the mark for England, but the first goal is often the most difficult. He’s still having an impact on the field though, and will no doubt continue to do so.
England have unquestionably been underperforming a little at Euro 2016, with Wales finishing ahead of them in their group. They certainly need to improve if they are to enjoy more success in the knockout stages, but that isn’t down to Lallana.
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Not every player in the team needs to be a goalscorer, and while it would be nice for Lallana to develop more of a clinical side, there are players like Daniel Sturridge, Jamie Vardy, and Harry Kane in the team for expressly that purpose. Yorke needs to keep quiet.