ENGLAND 1 BELGIUM 0 - STILL NOT MUCH TO CHEER ABOUT

I am grateful to my good friend Barrie Harding for his reflection on last night's England international.

The overall performance was better. But it was poor in Norway so the only way was up. Belgium are a good technical side but forty something in the world ranking because they cannot score goals. As they showed last night. Welbeck took his goal well but, as with the Young goal against Norway, it was pretty much a solo effort and not the result of good team play. And in both cases the defending was poor and certainly not up to the highest international standard England will face in the Euros. Other than that, Welbeck made no real impression even though Kompany wasn't playing. I like the look of Vertongen, even though he was playing out of position. Very calm and assured and left footed as a bonus. I hope Spurs buy him.

Defensively England coped well against a team that played in front of them and not around or behind them. And without a goal scoring forward Belgium had no outlet for their pretty football. Joe Hart still had as much to do as their keeper but mainly from long range.

Offensively it was only when Defoe came on and Belgium were a little more tired did we see any pressure play. With lesser teams  it is even more important that we maintain pressure on the opposition to get the goals and, while we can build that pressure, we cannot sustain it because our traditional game is based on bish-bash football. We lose the ball too easily and then have to wait to get it back and we suddenly find that pressure turned on us.

Roy is struggling to find the best team. He's not changing anything and that's understandable. He cannot make wholesale changes at this late stage but he can, at least, put players in positions where they are the most comfortable and the most effective. And so far he hasn't done that. Rooney is by far our best attacking weapon so don't have him chasing back to the half way line trying to get the ball back. If he wants to contribute then have him go wide, not deep, to put pressure on the other team. Put Gerard up just behind Rooney and let him make those runs beyond Rooney when he drags central defenders out left or right. Get Young wide, switching left and right as the attack builds to provide that width. With those three attacking the middle three can hold the midfield. Parker is now pretty much established and has good holding qualities but very limited in passing beyond twenty yards and usually sideways. With Barry injured but with two left sided full backs and the need to maintain balance he should play both. A creative playmaker is needed now but we don't have one.. Roy should resist using another wide player and is probably left with Milner to occupy (and that's all he does) the right side of midfield. This looks a very defensive team, and it can certainly play that way and be very solid right up to the last third of the pitch. It's here we have the problems - as most teams do. Scoring goals at the highest level is tough and England won't score many. We just need to score one more than the other side. So far we've done that in the two matches but, as I say, with individual efforts and not team play. 

ENGLAND HAVE TO PERFORM MUCH BETTER THAN THIS

FOLLOWING LAST NIGHT'S ENGLAND GAME IN OSLO - I BELIEVE THIS REPORT BY MY GOOD FRIEND BARRIE HARDING SUMS THE SITUATION UP PRETTY WELL. 

The most disappointing part of the game with Norway last night was the post match interview with Hodgson. Seems he has already had the obligatory operation to give him one-eyed vision with the rose-tint added as an extra.  And who's the moron who thought the dark blue/light blue second strip would look nice....?

Listening to him I must have been watching a completely different game. He seemed to think our number 9 had a good game while I watched Carroll jumping aimlessly at high balls while not once directing a header towards one of our players.

Halfway through the first half the idiot commentator was almost purring with delight as our boys in (various shades of) blue stroked the ball back and forth, back and forth across the pitch - but going nowhere. This metronomic but otherwise pointless passing movement was only interrupted once Gerrard decided he wanted to test, yet again, how far he could kick a ball and how aimlessly. He succeeded in this several times. He then felt he needed to demonstrate to Hodgson - almost in front of him - how easy it is to injure an opponent. Now Gerrard is almost as bad as Scholes at tackling fairly; and last night, if any further proof was needed, he showed that yet again. Even though it was a "friendly" match he should have received a caution at best and, in anything other than a friendly, he'd have been sent off.

Downing: what a muppet! Andy Townsend, who must have had the same eye operation as Hodgson, said he had talent but lacked confidence. Well, he's been picked consistently for England recently as well as Liverpool so don't think it's a confidence issue. It's am over-estimation of talent issue.

Ashley Young - made the space well but, then again, playing against Hangeland - and I've seen milk turn faster, scuffed his shot and it bobbled, almost apologetically, into the corner of the net. Other than that, nothing!

"Phil Jones" muttered Townsend breathlessly "what an athlete"..... Yes, but pity he doesn't have any ball control to go with it.

And don't get me started on Milner. What's the point of playing him? Can someone please let me know as I'm baffled as to what his role is other than running up and down the wing and occasionally getting in the way of the ball.

Every time the ball went towards Rob Green I had to close my eyes. Towards the end of the match when we were under severe pressure - and remember we were playing NORWAY and still struggled to cope - I was behind the sofa whimpering with fear. Maybe the FA should provide Hodgson with a sofa to hide behind instead of those silly looking Recaro seats.....

The studio panel pretty much got it right. They tried to be polite - even Roy Keane - but must have thought to themselves "Bloody Hell, England are in deep shit if this is the best they can do against a third rate team"

It must have been bad, even Adrian Chiles noticed.

Seriously, I know that Hodgson has only had a few days with the players. They've had a full season, but then again, so have the Norwegian team. England have at least three separate teams of similar quality players to choose from, so it's specific team selection and tactics that will win games. Norway are a big team and in Hangeland they have one of the biggest. Hodgson was his manager at one time so he knows what he can do/not do. Selecting Carroll to play directly against him was the most obvious selection error. The only goal - pay attention at the back there Hodgson - was when Young turned Hangeland yet Hodgson kept Carroll on the pitch and England continued with the same unsuccessful tactic of hitting long balls forward. That, to me, is the most worrying sign of all. Hodgson was made manager - ahead of 'Arry - because he supposedly had international experience and superior tactical ability.

England need to get to the Euro semi's otherwise Hodgson will be under big pressure. And he doesn't seem to me to be a person who copes well with pressure. He seems a very decent sort of guy who can work well when not much is expected of him. In that case, taking the England job was as big a mistake for him as it would have been for 'Arry. Both, unfortunately, too old without the necessary international experience either as a player or a manager at club or country level. So, if Hodgson either falls on his sword or gets tripped up and someone obligingly shoves a sword under his falling body, then please, FA, look for a manager who has the right blend of youth and international experience. You missed the opportunity last time by being led around by the nose by the media reflections of public opinion - and still managed to alienate that opinion by choosing someone else. 

What a farce

FOOTBALL NEEDS TO RETURN TO GRASS ROOTS

If like me, you were sickened by the recent Wayne Rooney debacle then you might like to consider my proposal for bringing some sanity back to the English game. Although I enjoy watching some of the continental talent that has enhanced our ailing game, the money that is now being coughed-up in wages and transfer fees for players, some of whom barely ever grace the field of play, has now extended beyond saturation point and has become obscene. Professional footballers in the top flight now compare with bankers for their selfish greed. I think it would be wonderful if we could put an end to this scandalous financial destruction of our national game to return to the standards of the past when footballers were admired for their talent, and not for the cars or their sexual conquests nor for the size of their bulging wallets.  

It says a great deal about the development of the game in our country that no English players have been included in the 23 short listed by FIFA as contenders to win the Ballon D’Or award. This should not surprise anyone because so little has been done to promote young English talent due to the dominance of foreign born players in the professional game. When it comes to senior English players; Rooney, Terry, Lampard, Walcott etc, although talented, rarely express their skills with the same consistency as Messi, Fabregas, Iniesta, Lahm, Xavi, Villa and dare I say, the precocious Ronaldo.Can anyone name more than one or two young English players that are likely to become world class? It is a crying shame because out their somewhere there will be players with the raw natural talent to succeed in the game if only the opportunities and resources were there to find and encourage them. If youngsters could be nurtured from the moment they start school, then we might be able, in time, to produce an English national side that could compete with the best. However before this can ever happen we must rid education of this misdirected belief that to be competitive is unhealthy and also find teachers that are qualified coaches. Perhaps this is the fundamental reason that Britain has ceased to be competitive in so many spheres, not just in sport?