From Graham Thomas in Lens
Roy Hodgson has told Wales that talk is cheap and that England intend to make them pay on Thursday.
The England manager looked visibly irked at suggestions that Wales have stolen a match on their Euro 2016 rivals with pre-match comments.
The build-up to the most eagerly awaited Wales-England match in history has been dominated by Welsh bravado. Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and others have all claimed Wales have more passion as well as a stronger team.
The debate may or may not have rattled England, but their manager looked irritated on Wednesday when he was asked about the Welsh verdicts.
Hodgson said: “I’m surprised people focusing so much on talking, and if we were really taking seriously what people are saying or reported to be saying or allowed it any way to affect concentration, we would be ashamed of ourselves.
“I’m surprised the questions are coming our way because talk is talk and action on the field is action on the field.”
Hodgson’s skin seemed to itch almost as much when he was asked how many England players would get into the Wales team.
He added: “I think that’s a question that people like yourself, a journalist in the mass media, and maybe many a fan will be asking.
“But I’ve got to be honest with you, I’ve never ever, as a coach of a team, ever once considered which of these players would get into our team and which of our players would get into their team.
“It’s a matter of total disinterest to me, because none of those Welsh players are available to play for England. So I’m afraid I’m going to have to throw the question back at you and say I’ll leave you to come up with the answer to that.
“You can decide and you can even, if you like, have a little quiz amongst yourselves and put your teams together and I’ll be interested to see what results you come up with.
“But as far as Wayne (Rooney) and I are concerned, we are here today doing our job for Uefa and the competition, talking about the game and particularly to talk about England. So I’m afraid I’ll have to leave that question with you, interesting though it may be.”
Hodgson – who once sold Chris Coleman to Fulham when he was manager at Blackburn Rovers – was equally prickly when probed over the claims that England are behind Wales in the passion stakes.
“I don’t really like to comment on things other people have said. We’re perfectly satisfied with the passion that we bring to our games and we certainly don’t have any doubts ourselves about our passion, our desire, our commitment, our wish to do well in the tournament.
“If other people have another opinion and think that they’re better at it, then that’s fine by me. But it’s certainly not something that I really believe is worthy of comment, if I am to be brutally honest.”
As far as Wales’ tactical approach is concerned, the England boss is not expecting Coleman to rip up the blueprint that secured a first major finals appearance in 58 years.
“I think they will play like they have been playing for quite a long period of time now with Chris Coleman,” he said. “They’ve been playing very successfully that way too.
We are not anticipating that there will be any vast changes in their style of play or in the personnel that they’ve been using. I don’t think we’ll be surprised particularly by either their line-up or what they try to do when they’ve got the ball or when they don’t have the ball.
“We might not be able to spring surprises either as they know our players and they know the type of football that we play.”