Kyle Walker admits England didn’t have a clue how to beat Iceland after going behind in shock Euro 2016 exit
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KYLE WALKER took a dig at former boss Roy Hodgson by admitting England had no back-up plan to defeat Iceland at Euro 2016.
The Tottenham right-back started the embarrassing 2-1 defeat in France that led to the former ex-Three Lions manager resigning.
Since then, Sam Allardyce had a brief 67-day spell in charge before the corruption scandal lost his job, and now Gareth Southgate is in the England hotseat.
Despite only working with the new head coach for a few days, Walker believes he and his team-mates are better equipped to make alterations should they find themselves in trouble against unfancied opponents.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s World Cup Qualifier against Malta at Wembley, Walker said: "I just think we don't need to play into their game.
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"I thought probably in the summer, that's what we did and we didn't really have a different plan.
"It was 'we are going to play this way', and if it didn't work, then we didn't really know what to do.
"But I feel for the Malta game we have different dimensions now. We have spoken about it in depth - that if something is not working, we need to go to this plan.
"I think the quality in the dressing room is frightening. And I think as soon as we just start gelling together and being a bit more - Eric Dier said it - streetwise, it will be a lot more beneficial for England and for us as a group of players."
Walker and Dier were among five players from White Hart Lane included in the England squad that slumped at the Euros.
And Walker revealed that it took a pep talk from Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino to lift them on their return.
Walker added: "It was still in the back of my mind when I got back to Tottenham.
"The gaffer put his arm around us all and we had a little chat. I think it was a good learning curve for us.
"We pulled together as well. We are a very close bunch of lads."
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