Jermaine Jenas Exclusive: A promising start, but Hodgson must make more of Kane and Alli's partnership

England looked impressive in their opening game of Euro 2016, despite Russia's last-gasp equaliser denying them a deserved win. But there is definitely room for improvement, especially in attack, where Dele Alli was not utilised in his most effective position and Harry Kane put in his worst display in an England shirt.

As good as England were going forward against Russia, popping the ball around nicely and creating chances, I think Alli was playing too deep to be able to help Kane out in the higher part of the pitch. Kane didn't play well, but he wasn't helped by the fact that he didn't have a partner to work with.

The way the midfield was set up, Eric Dier was sitting on his own and Rooney and Alli were next to each other ahead of him, which left Kane isolated.

In the 4-2-3-1 formation, Kane needs someone to work off. That would normally be Alli, who would be in and around the opposition centre-halves, making runs in behind them, getting himself into the hole in front of them and generally giving them a problem. But against Russia the duo were too far apart for that to happen.

The formation suited England a lot better than the diamond Hodgson used in the final warm-up game against Portugal, but I'm surprised Hodgson didn't make some minor adjustments to it to get Alli closer to Kane.

Rooney was phenomenal in midfield, stroking the ball around, being creative and being unlucky not to score a couple of times. So the formation works, but it just needs a little bit of fine tuning. That can be done on the training ground, but I would have liked to see Roy do it during the game.

I can understand why Hodgson didn't want to change things when England were playing so well, but really they were only playing well until they got to the final third, where Kane wasn't getting his shots away and he didn't look a threat.

Make no bones about it, Kane was poor. In fact it's as bad as I've seen him play all season. And if he's not playing well, England are not going to score goals. I'm actually surprised he stayed on the pitch for the full 90 minutes.

Alli being closer to Kane would have helped him, but even then the striker looked sluggish. The problem Harry has now is that this isn't the England of old, where the likes of Alan Shearer or Michael Owen or Rooney were guaranteed their place up front because there was no obvious replacement on the bench.

On England's bench now you have Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy champing at the bit, along with Marcus Rashford looking like he could come in and make a difference. So it depends on how long Roy gives it. It Kane puts in another 45 minutes like that, the pressure will be on Hodgson to change things.

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It may have been Kane's first appearance in a major tournament, which comes with a certain amount of pressure, but Harry is a major player now and he's shown this season that he can deal with the pressure, whether for club or country. Just like all top players have to. He just simply didn't look himself.

Having said that, it wasn't Kane's fault that he was asked to take the corners, which was a ridiculous situation. Sure, Thierry Henry used to do it for Arsenal, but he was great technician when it came to set pieces. Kane has never been one to take corners. It makes no sense. He's 6ft 2in and he's lethal in the box. Rooney should be taking the corners, 100 per cent.

Despite being slightly out of position, Alli played very well and he had an impact on the game. But I don't just want Alli to have an impact on a game, I want him to dictate it. He should be the big problem for the opposition - almost like Rooney was in Euro 2004. But to get that, Hodgson has to use him in the position he'd been playing all year, and he didn't.

England need to get Alli running in behind and scoring goals, like he does for Tottenham. That means taking some of the midfield responsibility off him and freeing him up to do what he wants. Let Eric Dier and Rooney be the more responsible players instead.

Alli and Kane's partnership can be England's most dangerous weapon in France, but Hodgson needs to play to their strengths to get the best out of them.