England's young guns give Roy Hodgson plenty to smile about
Tuesday 13 October 2015 09:57, UK
Roy Hodgson said the future of English football was bright after his side completed a clean sweep in qualifying for next summer's European Championship in France.
England beat Lithuania 3-0 in Vilnius on Monday night to make it 10 wins out of 10 in Group E - the first time they had achieved such a feat in qualifying for the Euros - and Hodgson said he was delighted with his side's display at the LFF Stadium.
"We are very pleased with that, of course," the England manager told Sky Sports after the game. "I think the way we approached the game and stamped our authority from the first minute meant we were not often in danger of not winning the game.
"I thought the team approached the game in exactly the right way. I said to them before the game: 'This is a great opportunity, I believe in you and am excited to see you play.' And I was not let down at all.
"I thought the quality of our football was very, very good and even towards the end we were working very hard to win the ball back when we lost it, despite the fact we were 3-0 up and we could have been even more goals ahead."
England have now joined France (twice), Czech Republic, Spain and Germany in having won every qualifying fixture ahead of a European Championship, although Hodgson played down that fact.
"Omens are always nice," he said. "But the fact is you only win matches or get good records like this one when you are doing it on the field, so we have some interesting matches coming up now that we are looking forward to against some quality opposition.
"And I think that will be a test for us and highlight elements of our play that we have to work even harder on."
The biggest positive on the road to Euro 2016, though, as far as Hodgson was concerned was the emergence of so many young and exciting players, all of who will now be challenging for a place at next summer's tournament.
"But it is quite incredible that I think so many players tonight are playing, if not their first game for England, then one of their first few games for England," Hodgson said.
"Phil Jagielka captains the team and for them to go out and give that type of performance, it does give me great heart that we do have players coming through in this country, we do have quality footballers.
"And if and when we get the players back who helped us, certainly at the start of the campaign, then we will have a strong squad to choose from. These players tonight will certainly feel they have done enough to keep their names at the front of my thinking and the thinking of the coaches and that is all I can ask from them.
"That is how it should be [a selection headache]. A lot of the time we have been wise with players and rested them.
"For example, on this occasion at least four or five players who would have made the starting line-up were rested, because I am always complaining about the amount of games players have to play in the Premier League and how often the games come up.
"So when I have a chance to give them a little rest, I have tried to do so, so that will account to some extent for the amount of players we have used."
In particular, Hodgson highlighted the performances of both Ross Barkley, who opened the scoring, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who scored England's third goal, against Lithuania.
"Ross Barkley had an excellent game at Wembley [against Estonia on Friday] and we were really pleased to see him continue in that fine form and the form he has actually been showing for Everton as well - I know that Everton are really happy with his performances," he said.
"With Alex, it is always a case of how much football does he get? He has not always played in the Premier League, so it was nice that he could get the whole 90 minutes tonight, and with the 20 minutes the other night, at least he has now got some football under his belt. And when he gets the chance to play, he shows the talent for which we select him."
And in the injury-enforced absence of John Stones and Luke Shaw in Vilnius, Hodgson was also quick to praise full-backs Kieran Gibbs and Kyle Walker.
"I thought the two full-backs against Estonia [Nathaniel Clyne and Ryan Bertrand] did well, and I thought the two full-backs tonight did well, which was important as we did not have Stones and Shaw, two players who we were really counting on going forward. But we think we will get Stones back, even for the November fixtures.
"And for Luke, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed that he recovers quicker than can possibly be expected and that it is not too late for him for next summer, because he is a very, very exciting talent and a left-back who would certainly cause a lot of competition in the squad were he to be fit."
