England have qualified for the 2016 European Championships from group E with a perfect record so far, but what can really take from the week's action? The only thing which Roy Hodgson can take from San Marino is three points, with all due respect they're no mark by which he can measure his squad's progress. However the Switzerland match was a little more instructive.
For starters there were encouraging signs from the emerging young talent in the team. Only four of the 14 players who appeared against the Swiss are over 25 years old. Luke Shaw, in my view England’s best performer, Chris Smalling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all put in very strong performances. Harry Kane scored a great goal which, along with his deft chip against San Marino, will hopefully kickstart his league season. Nathaniel Clyne looked solid at right-back, something which might worry Kyle Walker, and Ross Barkley had his most assured performance in an England shirt yet. In short, England’s youth are taking over.
It's somewhat of a cliché to talk about transition periods but they are real and they have a big effect on teams, especially national teams who are unable to splash the cash to solve their problems. In the last three years England lost John Terry, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, for one reason or another, without adequately replacing them. That's a hell of a spine to have ripped out. As a result, problems often arise when managers try to hang on to the old group for too long. It is very difficult to avoid (who on earth would have dropped Steven Gerard, even last season?) but it has detrimental effects on the development of the new players. Finally, with none of the ‘golden generation’ left in the team it appears that, even though the journey to the new team is not complete, we are certainly on the right road.
What remains to be seen, however, is how well this new team can perform against Europe’s top sides. Yes we have got a perfect record so far in qualifying but that doesn't automatically translate into tournament success. England haven't lost a qualifying match since Ukraine in October 2009 but, as we well know, this hasn't been a platform for reaching the latter stages. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that Hodgson’s men are unlikely to be playing in next year’s final at The Stade de France but we can at least hope that they will perform better than the one point managed at last year’s World Cup.
For starters there were encouraging signs from the emerging young talent in the team. Only four of the 14 players who appeared against the Swiss are over 25 years old. Luke Shaw, in my view England’s best performer, Chris Smalling and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all put in very strong performances. Harry Kane scored a great goal which, along with his deft chip against San Marino, will hopefully kickstart his league season. Nathaniel Clyne looked solid at right-back, something which might worry Kyle Walker, and Ross Barkley had his most assured performance in an England shirt yet. In short, England’s youth are taking over.
It's somewhat of a cliché to talk about transition periods but they are real and they have a big effect on teams, especially national teams who are unable to splash the cash to solve their problems. In the last three years England lost John Terry, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, for one reason or another, without adequately replacing them. That's a hell of a spine to have ripped out. As a result, problems often arise when managers try to hang on to the old group for too long. It is very difficult to avoid (who on earth would have dropped Steven Gerard, even last season?) but it has detrimental effects on the development of the new players. Finally, with none of the ‘golden generation’ left in the team it appears that, even though the journey to the new team is not complete, we are certainly on the right road.
What remains to be seen, however, is how well this new team can perform against Europe’s top sides. Yes we have got a perfect record so far in qualifying but that doesn't automatically translate into tournament success. England haven't lost a qualifying match since Ukraine in October 2009 but, as we well know, this hasn't been a platform for reaching the latter stages. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that Hodgson’s men are unlikely to be playing in next year’s final at The Stade de France but we can at least hope that they will perform better than the one point managed at last year’s World Cup.
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