Chris Waddle: Use Vardy's pace from the bench and England can flourish

Chris Waddle believes that Jamie Vardy may have to settle for a place on the bench '“ in his first experience of tournament football with England.
Jamie Vardy battles against Sunderland's Lee Cattermole. Picture by Frank ReidJamie Vardy battles against Sunderland's Lee Cattermole. Picture by Frank Reid
Jamie Vardy battles against Sunderland's Lee Cattermole. Picture by Frank Reid

Vardy heads to France justifiably basking in the glow of a dream domestic season with Leicester City, crowned by lifting the Premier League title and highs have also arrived on the international front by way of successive goals in internationals against Germany, Holland and Turkey.

Despite that feat, former Newcastle and Sunderland winger Waddle feels that Vardy’s most potent weapon of explosive pace and finishing ability will be best employed from the bench by Roy Hodgson during England’s Euro 2016 odyssey, especially in the group stages when Waddle expects Group B rivals Russia, Wales and Slovakia to play a cagey game.

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Chris Waddle
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Former England star Waddle said: “Vardy will be good if we are winning and teams are pushing on. That’s his strength, he’s good at spinning and getting in behind.

“But if teams are sitting deep and the majority of them will in the group stage, I think he will find it hard to get any joy. His strength is his pace.

“He will be an addition if England are winning rather than losing, for me.”

Waddle remembers Vardy when he was plying his trade in non-league circles in the Sheffield area and is the first to acknowledge that his rise has been Boy’s Own stuff, with those credentials which earned him success down the footballing ladder now serving him well right at the top – albeit with a touch of fine-tuning.

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Chris Waddle
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Waddle added: “I remember him playing at Stocksbridge and then going to Halifax and it’s a great story.

“He went to Fleetwood and Leicester and he has played to his strengths. He has never been one to say he will come off and link the play and dribble past three guys.

“He gets it, gives it and spins around and he is a pest and plays to his abilities and that is why he has done well.

“There are not many players now who run in behind and I am a great believer that players should.

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“But when teams have defended deep, he has found it a bit harder.

“I can’t see Russia, Wales and Slovakia coming out and they will think if they can get a draw against England that they feel they are comfortable to beat the other teams.”

Roy Hodgson’s England may head to France on the back of successive friendly wins against Turkey, Australia and Portugal, but do so with more questions than answers, as seasoned England observer Waddle acknowledges.

The first question on the list for many is this: ‘How do you solve a problem like Wayne Rooney, or more pertinently, where do you play him?’.

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Issues also infiltrate other areas across the pitch, with not too many able to say with confidence what England’s line-up will be next Saturday when they take on Russia at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome, a place Waddle knows well from his golden association with L’OM in the late 80s and early 90s.

Waddle, part of the BBC’s radio team in France, said: “There’s a lot of question marks. Where do you play Wayne Rooney, for instance, as Dele Alli has a claim to that ‘10’ spot now? There’s a lot of things, who are going to be the two full-backs and three in midfield?

“If Roy knows his team and what he is going to go with – fine. But I was at the Australia game and we looked very disjointed and the possession on the ball was terrible.

“Advocating the use of two holding midfielders to protect what many perceive to be a flaky back four, Waddle added: “With the way we play, our weakness is the back four and where we play one player in there in (Eric) Dier, we might have to play two holding. It’s late now, but I would have been interested to see Dier play in there with Stones.

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“Roy likes (Jack) Wilshere and I think he will play. Then there’s (Jordan) Henderson and do you put Rooney on the right or left? Where does Alli fit in.”

Waddle reckons that teenage bolter Marcus Rashford fully merited his place in the squad after gatecrashing Hodgson’s plans at the tail end of the season – and believes that the Manchester United striker will represent a wild card.

Waddle said: “Once Rashford got into the squad, he had to go.

“I was at the game at Sunderland and he settled well and scored very early. He looked as if he’d been around for a while and looked after the ball well.

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“He’s a good player and has a presence with a good football brain on him and he can obviously score goals, which is what you need. He has nothing to lose or fear and can just play his game.”

* Chris Waddle met England fans as part of Carlsberg’s ‘Pubstitutions’ campaign. Carlsberg will be substituting pub names and renaming them ‘The Three Lions’ across England in the build-up to Euro 2016