World Cup winner Gordon Banks feels the Football Association took too long in appointing Roy Hodgson as the new England coach and as a result has hampered the Three Lions chances of impressing at Euro 2012. With exactly a fortnight remaining before the Group D opener against France in Donetsk, Banks believes Hodgson will run out of time to shape the side to his satisfaction.
Speaking at the Every Player Counts Awards at the Grass Roots Football Show, Banks said:
"If they are going to do anything in the tournament they will have to play better.
"They were a little bit too defensive and I thought Roy was looking for a result which would maybe give the lads a bit of confidence.
"There were one or two new players but you could see it is going to take a while."
It is bedding-in time Hodgson simply does not have.
"It was terrible to leave it so late," said Banks.
"I couldn't understand that at all. Why wasn't he appointed earlier?
"There are so many things to do when someone takes over. There is more to it than just picking a side and expecting them to play.
"I didn't think it was right to leave it so long." "England didn't play very well at all on Saturday.