Job done by England against Montenegro with a 4-1 win last night at Wembley, but little more. Call me pessimistic or a naysayer if you will, but I wasn’t particularly impressed.
There seemed to be a lack of intensity at times, which was odd given that it is still early in the season.
Credit to Roy Hodgson and his team for selecting Andros Townsend and credit to the player himself for putting in a strong performance, capped off with a fine goal.
Although his driving run helped set up the first, the cross he delivered was nowhere near an England player – indeed England’s final pass throughout the evening was lacking: the second goal came via a Montenegrin defender and the fourth was a penalty, well won by Daniel Sturridge against a tired and desperate defender.
I thought Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard looked laboured at times and too often they and their team-mates got caught in possession or gave the ball away. Even Wayne Rooney was culpable of this, causing Hodgson some late angst. Kyle Walker got himself needlessly booked and will miss the Poland clash. Danny Welbeck mixed the sublime with the very poor.
Joe Hart at least put in a solid performance, which he needed to, Leighton Baines was good and Sturridge always a threat.
While the performance was enough to see off Montenegro, although not before they’d caused a few nervous moments with a goal of their own, they will need to improve significantly if (or more probably, when) they get to the World Cup.
An Italy, Spain or even a Belgium wouldn’t have had many problems with us yesterday.
But am I being too harsh? Were England cleverly playing within themselves and just doing enough to get past their opponents on the day? Do they have another level?