Roy Hodgson believes Jack Wilshere's lack of match practice was the major reason for his below-par performance in England's goalless draw with Ukraine last night.
Handed his second start in four days, Wilshere did not enjoy the best of evenings and it was no surprise when he was replaced midway through the second half by the equally ineffectual Ashley Young.
In his defence, as Hodgson knows only too well, the Arsenal midfielder did not have the benefit of a full pre-season campaign as Arsene Wenger sought to protect him after two years of problems with ankle and knee injuries. "Jack is still looking for full fitness," said Hodgson. "That is why we took him off in the second-half. We saw a much more effective Jack against Moldova, but he still did his work against Ukraine and, tactically, did all the things I asked of him."
It was not a night for flamboyance, but England have at least rediscovered something of a defensive solidity. Although some questioned the performance of Kyle Walker at right-back, the criticism seemed a trifle unfair given his task of closing down Yevhen Konoplyanka was the toughest any England player faced.
Ashley Cole was in command on the other side, whilst Gary Cahill produced probably his finest international display alongside Phil Jagielka, who was not far behind. "All our defenders were really good - and they needed to be," said Hodgson. "If they had not been, the quality of our opponents, in front of a very fervent home crowd, created conditions that begged for a defeat."
Although Hodgson suggested beforehand Ukraine would be desperate for victory, in the end, another scenario unfolded. Ukraine, who have a home game against a Poland side teetering on the brink of elimination before a trip to San Marino, will feel the point they collected last night will earn them a play-off berth at worst.
What they now hope - and England must avoid - is for Montenegro or Poland to spring a surprise when they head to Wembley. "It was a game where neither side will think they have lost points," said Hodgson. "It's a very tight group and there are a number of teams who can still qualify. We are hoping that it will be us."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article