You made a fantastic impact when coming off the bench against Sweden…
In tournaments you’ve always got to wait your moment if you’re not starting the game. You’ve got to always train well and be ready when the boss needs you. There’s no point sulking when you’re not playing - you just make sure you’re ready, and hopefully I showed that it is not always about the team that started.
Twenty-three players are going to hopefully win this tournament - or take us far in the tournament anyway - and it just shows how much firepower we’ve got on that bench. We haven’t even seen Wayne [Rooney] yet, he’s still to come.
When we saw you after the France game, you didn’t look very happy, can you tell us what was going through your mind when you missed out on the team?
Everyone always wants to play. As a player it’s always disappointing not to play at all, but that’s all it was. I was very happy the team got a result but I’d be disappointed if you saw me coming out all ‘happy days’ and dancing down the media.
You’ve always got to show your disappointment at the right time, but it’s the way you bounce back from it and that’s what I did. I’m sorry if I blanked everyone that day!
What did you think about after you goal against Sweden?
I just thought ‘wow’! At first I thought it took a deflection to be honest, but I watched it back and it didn’t take it. It’s been a long time coming since my last goal for England. It was at a crucial time of the game as well and I think that shocked them, and we just showed what class we have got and we got three points which was massive for us.
Did you feel that was your best performance for England since the hat-trick against Croatia in 2008?
There have been some good performances but you know, coming off the bench you need to be ready and sharp in a tournament situation and on the big stage it is demanding on you as well – not just going forward but getting into shape straight away. But yes, I would say it is up there.
Can we have a few words on your Arsenal, colleague, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain? He played well against France and against Sweden it looked like he was going to score until Steven Gerrard took the ball of him in the dying seconds…
I wouldn’t say Stevie took it off him. I think Stevie is such a great player he’s always going to be onto that. But it doesn’t matter about who scores or doesn’t - it’s about the team in the end and the three points.
Alex has four caps now, and it’s great for his confidence and it will be great for Arsenal when we come back and play together – perfect.
