Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 8y

Eric Dier: England must learn to be more ruthless under Allardyce

Eric Dier says England must be more "ruthless" after Sam Allardyce's reign got off to a slow start with Sunday's 1-0 World Cup qualifying win in Slovakia.

England found it hard to break down their hosts, who were reduced to 10 men when Martin Skrtel was sent off with 33 minutes remaining for a foul on Harry Kane, but were rewarded when Adam Lallana scored a 95th-minute winner.

With captain Wayne Rooney in midfield, Tottenham striker Kane was isolated, recording just five touches in the first half and fluffing his only presentable chance -- air-kicking Kyle Walker's cross -- before he was replaced by Daniel Sturridge after 81 minutes.

Dier, Kane's Spurs' teammate, was impressed by Slovakia's organisation but says England must be more clinical in front of goal.

"We played them in the Euros and they are a very well organised team," Dier told reporters. "They have been together for a long time with their manager and they have some good players so we knew it was going to be tough. The opposition going down to 10 men makes it more difficult sometimes.

"We probably should have finished the game off by the time we scored the winner and that is one of the things we are going to have to improve on: being that bit more ruthless."

The victory came just 69 days after England crashed out of Euro 2016 following a 1-0 defeat to Iceland in the round-of-16 and Allardyce named eight of the 11 starters from that match.

Dier, replaced at half-time against Iceland, added: "There is a long way to go until the scars have been healed but it is a start.

"All we can do is win against whoever we have in front of us but I think there is a long way to go before we repay everyone for what happened in the Euros. And for ourselves as well because we were the most unhappy of everyone and there is a long way to go until we are happy again."

Kane, who is without a goal in his last 11 competitive appearances for club and country, was impressed by England's patience against Slovakia.

"We were all disappointed from the Euros -- it wasn't just the fans, it was the players as well -- so we wanted to give a good performance, and hopefully win," he said. "We did that, so hopefully we can kick on now.

"It's a difficult place to come away from home. There are no easy international matches and we had to be patient at times. We created chances. We could have been two or three nil up. You've got to be patient in this game and we were, and we got the winner in the end."

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