It was in a quiet moment, away from all the flashing bulbs, that Roy Hodgson found himself in the bowels of the Olympiastadion reflecting on four decades in management and bristling momentarily as he lamented the way he feels he is given a raw deal in England sometimes compared with other countries where he has worked.

“Unfortunately, I suppose, I don’t know when I got it, but I was given an epithet at one stage that will stay with me for the rest of my life,” he said. “I don’t have it in Switzerland, I don’t have it in Italy – that I am conservative in some way, I believe that is what is said. I can’t remember who said it first but it’s not true and I have never felt that way.

“I have worked for one or two teams where we have been nowhere near as good as the opposition and had to work for results. But whenever I have had a team to take control and take the initiative, all my teams have done that, so I don’t need to prove anyone wrong.”

Hodgson had seen his team produce a 3-2 win against Germany that contained so much drama and courage the word he repeatedly used afterwards was “fearlessness”. England had played in the way every fan wants them to play. Hodgson, speaking from a new position of strength, had a point to make about the allegation that has attached itself to his career. “It was never true,” he said. “My line, in the last 40 years, is that you can only hope to win football matches if you can take the game to the opposition and that it is very hard to win if you are on the back foot all the time and trying to nick a goal. I can’t disprove what people say or think. I can only do my work and hope the work I do will give some sort of reward and success.”

Dark ages

There was a flicker of irritation in his voice and it was not the kind of speech he could really have given after, say, the plodding 0-0 draw in Ukraine that memorably led to Gary Lineker describing the team as playing “football from the dark ages”.

Yet Hodgson perhaps had a point. England managed 15 shots in Berlin, compared with six for Germany. The passes count was 644-365 in favour of the world champions, with 63.3 per cent possession, but that statistic felt like a deception. Germany might have had more of the ball but their opponents made far better use of it.

This is not to say anyone should start talking up England’s chances of winning Euro 2016 when the lesson of history ought to have taught us what can happen on the back of that kind of tub-thumping. Nevertheless, there are authentic reasons for England supporters to be more optimistic and it is not a bad thing thatthe manager still saw imperfections.

“We would still like to play out more from the back than we did,” he said. “We are trying but our goalkeepers have work to do if they are to become as good as the David de Geas and Hugo Llorises of the world. In an ideal world, we will build that up because the fewer times we have to play the ball long towards Harry Kane, the better.

“We want to use our midfield players because they are players who can really run the game. We’ve said to the players: ‘We are backing you on this; this is how we want you to play. I am prepared, and my coaching staff are prepared, to take the responsibility if it goes wrong and you try to play, the ball gets nicked off you and they score a goal, and people batter you.’ We’re going to be the first ones standing up to say: ‘This is what we told him to do, so don’t have a go at him.’

“This is the message we have been putting across for a long period of time. And we have been lucky that players have come into the team who seem to flourish with that confidence being given to them, and that freedom.”

Praise

Dele Alli is the case in point. “Lothar Matthaus said he was the best player on the pitch,” Hodgson said. “That’s some praise indeed. He was man of the match against France as well and, if anything has really pleased me, it’s that he was able to do the same again in more difficult circumstances.

“At the moment all you can see with Dele Alli is a very, very bright future. It’s up to him, and his club, and he has to make certain that he doesn’t start thinking: ‘I’m the complete article.’ You can’t be the complete article at 19 years of age but I’m not trying to detract at all from his performance. We thought he was excellent from the first minute to the last and he is getting a lot of praise. I hope he enjoys it. It is truly deserved.”

Hodgson’s players are helping him shift the allegation of being unduly conservative – dull to you and me – and the most encouraging thing, perhaps, is that the England manager still believes they can do better. “Our job now will be to say: ‘Right, what do we need to do here that will take us forward and really work for us?’ We really need to look at everything because we have only six or seven weeks to put it right.” Guardian service