Monday 13 June 2016 13:57, UK
Jack Wilshere has hailed Wayne Rooney as England's best player following his performance in the 1-1 draw with Russia.
Rooney was deployed in a deep-lying midfield role by manager Roy Hodgson for the opening Group B match at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille on Saturday and produced an impressive display.
He was withdrawn 12 minutes from the end, with England leading 1-0, and had to watch on from the substitutes' bench as Russia snatched a point with a stoppage-time equaliser.
Wilshere, who replaced Rooney from the bench, admits he was in awe of the performance produced by the Manchester United and England captain and believes he silenced his doubters in the process.
"He is fantastic. I watched him towards the end of the season playing for Manchester United in that deeper role," he said.
"People saying can he do it? I'm sitting there thinking he's doing it and he is the best player on the pitch.
"He is that type of player, he can understand the game. He can pick up on the ball. He is comfortable on the ball and you saw his range of passing as well.
"I said it before, I think he is our best player and he has been for many years. To have someone like that in the team, because he can also still play up front in my opinion, it's fantastic."
England face Wales in a 'Battle of Britain' clash in Lens on Thursday, keen to put the focus back on the pitch after crowd trouble marred their match against Russia.
There were ugly scenes in Marseille before the game and they continued inside the stadium following the full-time whistle, when Russian supporters appeared to charge into an area occupied by the England fans.
UEFA has since warned both nations could face disqualification if the violence continues and has already opened up disciplinary proceedings against Russia over the behaviour of their supporters at the Stade Velodrome.
But Wilshere says expulsion from the tournament is not in the players' minds and took time to praise the travelling England fans for their support.
The Arsenal midfielder said; "We don't take any notice of that. Of course we will have to if it gets to that. From what I saw in the stadium the English fans were great.
"We want them to continue backing us and we thank them for their support and hopefully they can keep that going.
"On Saturday, in the warm up, we could really feel the fans behind us and that gave us confidence going into the first half. We played excellently in the first half and you can really see what good support can do for us."
