Roy Hodgson’s reign as England (10/1 – Euro 2012 outright) manager got off to a solid start on Saturday evening with a 1-0 win over Norway in Oslo, but as usual with the Three Lions, there are more questions than answers heading into Euro 2012.
For the opening half hour of the match, England dominated their Scandinavian opponents, stringing a number of impressive moves together. They were justifiably rewarded when Ashley Young scored the only goal of the game after just nine minutes.
Furthermore, the troublesome midfield area seemed to be working itself out, with Scott Parker providing enough protection for the defence to allow skipper Steven Gerrard to produce his trademark surging runs. This provided a number of opportunities for both Young and strike partner Andy Carroll.
However, the performance certainly tailed off in the second half when the players looked fatigued and Egil Olsen’s side were unlucky not to grab what would have been a deserved equaliser.
England now have just one more warm-up game – against Belgium – before travelling to Eastern Europe for their first match of Euro 2012 against France on June 11th (France 6/4, draw 11/5, England 6/4 – Match Betting).
The game against the Belgians will certainly provide a fairer indication of where the team currently stands as a number of players who missed the game in Oslo are set to return to the fold. Furthermore, the players will be desperate to secure their place in the side to face Laurent Blanc’s men in Donetsk.
Despite the unconvincing nature of the win, there were plenty of positives to draw on from Saturday’s game, most notably the performance of Andy Carroll (50/1 – Euro 2012 top goalscorer), who once again proved his doubters wrong and now looks certain to lead the line in Wayne Rooney’s absence.
Furthermore, his combination play with Young certainly looks promising and combined with Gerrard’s new-found freedom in the midfield, could provide the X Factor that England (13/8 to win Group D) have missed in years gone by.
Despite these positives, there are still a few questions hanging over the squad, most notably in defence where Everton’s Phil Jagielka, who is currently on stand-by, performed admirably and was arguably England’s best player.
The former Sheffield United man has been one of the Premier League’s stand-out stoppers over the last few seasons and his display will only raise further questions over the positions of slower defenders such as Gary Cahill and the out-of-form John Terry.
With all these quandaries still surrounding the camp, the game against Belgium certainly takes on extra significance and with Roy Hodgson still to finalise his squad, don’t be surprised if he decides to leave yet more established stars at home.
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