Jordan Henderson did impress in the England midfield but Jack Wilshere wasted his chance to shine in Saint-Etienne
Liverpool star had a positive game in the Three Lions engine room but his team-mate struggled to make impact on game
THEY are hardly the most obvious of footballing bedfellows.
Yet when Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson faced up to Slovakia last night, they had far more in common than they may have wished.
Jack Wilshere struggled to impose himself on the game against Solvakia
Certainly when it came to the reason you could draw a line between the two.
After all, this was the midfield duo who, when England were last in tournament battle, went to Brazil tipped as the next big things.
Wilshere was being hailed by some as the new Bryan Robson. And in some ways he has done a Robbo — just not as planned.
Because injuries, as they did with the one-time Manchester United hero in two World Cups, have so far wrecked his hopes of being the key to national glory.
It has been a similar tale of shattered hopes and dreams for Henderson, too.
This was the king of the engine room expected to fill the mighty midfield boots of Steven Gerrard, for both club and country.
Yet right now he is the man who cannot even be certain of a regular starting slot with the Reds, let alone the Three Lions.
A man who could not even make it off the bench in Basel as Jurgen Klopp rolled all his dice to try — and fail — to lift the Europa League trophy.
A man who, if he were honest, would probably admit he was the biggest surprise of the six new faces to appear in Roy Hodgson’s line-up last night.
So both of them ran out at the Geoffroy Guichard with much more than just England’s hopes on the line. In many ways it was far more personal than that.
Jordan Henderson played well in central midfield after Roy Hodgson selected him
Pressure does not come much tougher than this, as Gregg Wallace might say if he ever swaps the MasterChef kitchen for football punditry.
So what would we get? Knee buckling and yet more shattered dreams for two men in danger of getting the monopoly on them?
Or chest-puffing, shoulder-squaring, jaw-cocking dominance and a step towards finally turning promise into proof?
Well, for one, there was a definite positive answer. For the other, this morning the jury remains very much hung.
First up Henderson and, in his case, a gauntlet well and truly picked up, run with and slapped back across the chops of every Slovak who stood in his way.
Work-rate? Tick. Picking the right ball? Tick. Creative, probing balls when the opportunity arose? Tick.
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A first international goal would have been in there, too, had Jan Durica not bravely thrown himself in front of one piledriver.
And a delightfully controlled-at-pace cross saw Dele Alli go as close as anyone to giving England a table-topping goal last night.
All in all, while it was an evening of frustration for the Three Lions as a collective, for Henderson alone it was a pretty impressive 90 minutes’ work. The exact opposite to his midfield pal.
The fact Wilshere lasted ten minutes into the second half before being hooked for Wayne Rooney says everything about that.
Yes, there was still the odd flash. With the stardust the Arsenal star has in his boots, there is always going to be. But it was just that — the odd flash and no more.
For every angled ball for Jamie Vardy to chase, or clever dink down the line to send Adam Lallana haring away, there were three or four of the other kind.
Jack Wilshere was replaced by Wayne Rooney in the second half after a poor game
Like the lazy, careless midfield pass which turned a potential England attack into a panicky, backtracking defence led by livewire Vladimir Weiss.
With the Slovak’s ability to break at pace, that is not something you want to make a habit of. Where he is concerned, definitely NOT an idle Weiss.
For Hodgson, as agitated and frustrated in the dugout as the fans were around three sides of this ground, something had to give. That something was Wilshere.
It would clearly be unfair to expect him to be 100 per cent up to speed after the broken leg which meant his season did not start until late April.
But in tournament football there is no room for sentiment. For the rest of Wilshere’s Euro hopes that does not spell good news.
Let’s hope that great Hodgson selection gamble doesn’t mean the same for England’s.