Roy Hodgson has claimed this is how he wants his new-look England side to play after beating Italy 2-1 in Berne last night.
Five players gave assured performances on their senior debuts as Jack Butland, John Ruddy, Jake Livermore, Ryan Bertrand and Tom Cleverley took to the field.
“I’m pleased,” he said.
“It was the type of game I sort of expected; two teams with a lot of changes looking to make a big impression ahead of the qualification campaign.”
The result goes some way in easing England’s pain after losing to the Azzurri on penalties in the Euro 2012 Quarter-finals.
He added:”I am happy with the way we responded to that challenge and the performance we gave.”
Ashley Young was the only player in the line-up who started on that painful evening in Kiev, while Joleon Lescott and James Milner appeared from the bench.
Hodgson said:”It’s the qualifiers that really count, but it’s nice to know we have a deeper squad of players than that we took to the Euros.”
He was pleased with the Three Lions’ strength in depth, but admitted that it would be unwise to make comparisons with the performance against Italy in Euro 2012.
“In the Euros, especially towards the end and the second half against Italy where they dominated, we did have an excuse,” he said.
“We were a bit tired at that time.
“It wasn’t a typical performance from an England team, and not the way we want to play.
“This is the way we want to play.”
England begin their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign away at Moldova on 7th September.
[ad_pod id=’dfp-mpu’ align=’right’]
