Norway 0
England 1 (Young 9)
Roy Hodgson's first game as England manager ended well and should at least encourage the sense that the team are not going into Euro 2012 in a complete state of disrepair. The preparations may have been chaotic, and Norway were certainly obliging opponents, but Hodgson's side played with shape and control and it should not be overlooked this was the first time their opponents had lost at home for two years.
After so little time together, that represents a satisfying evening's work for Hodgson even if there were little pockets of the game when their carelessness with the ball would have been punished by a more accomplished side. At other times England looked the more assured side, particularly in the first half after the ninth-minute goal from Ashley Young that ultimately won the game.
A new-look defence was troubled only sporadically while, in attack, Andy Carroll's link-up play with Young suggests Hodgson may have found the right pairing to compensate for Wayne Rooney's absence for England's first two Euro 2012 matches. The downside was an injury that forced Gareth Barry off in the 73rd minute, having come on as a half-time substitute, but it was still an evening that will encourage Hodgson ahead of England's final warm-up game against Belgium next weekend.
By then, Rooney will have joined the squad, along with the four Chelsea players who have been given time off after the Champions League final, and Hodgson will be able to play a less experimental side, more in planning for the real business of a meeting with France in Donetsk nine days later.
John Terry and Ashley Cole will expect to be mandatory first-team picks and Gary Cahill will harbour hopes of displacing Joleon Lescott. In fact, it may be that Hodgson changes his entire defence if Glen Johnson's toe injury has healed. Yet there is little point in Rooney coming straight back into the team when he is suspended against France and Sweden and Hodgson is certainly entitled to want another look at the partnership of Carroll and Young because there were some encouraging signs that they have the right combination of attributes to trouble defences.
Carroll certainly rose to the challenge of replacing Rooney, looking sharp and confident and generally continuing where he left off from Liverpool at the end of the season. The striker has endured some difficult times and occasionally there were reminders that he is still a work in progress, such as the moment in the first half when his misplaced pass went straight out for a Norway throw-in. Ultimately, though, he can reflect on a productive evening's work, eager to impress and dovetailing well with his new striker partner.
His pass for Young's goal was a case in point, spinning the ball into his team-mate's path with a shrewd touch off the outside of the boot. A little thing, perhaps, but this was one of those moments that summed up Carroll's improvement. A few months ago, Carroll was maybe seventh or eighth in the pecking order of English strikers. All the indications now are that he will start the tournament as Hodgson's first-choice attacker and, while that would have seemed barely plausible not so long ago, his new sense of assurance has at least moved on some of the misgivings that previously existed.
Beside him, Young was lively and elusive, always looking to get beyond the Norwegian defence. The Manchester United player turned past Brede Hangeland for his goal as if he were going round a training-ground cone rather than one of the Premier League's better defenders. After that, it was a confident side-footed finish beyond the goalkeeper, Rune Almenning Jarstein. The early goal had therapeutic effects and England were rarely threatened during the remainder of the first half. Norway have beaten France, Portugal and the Czech Republic here in the last two years but it was a relatively comfortable introduction for Rob Green, playing for England for the first time since letting in Clint Dempsey's soft shot against the USA in the World Cup.
Green made one fine save in the opening half, clawing Markus Henriksen's effort past the post. He also reminded us of his erratic side when he lost the flight of the resulting corner from Morten Gamst Pedersen and the ball struck the post but it made sense to bring him in and he should be better off for it.
Hodgson's selection of James Milner and Stewart Downing as his wide players may not have been especially inspiring but the structure of the team was good, particularly bearing in mind this was a team cobbled together on the back of three training sessions.
Barry took over the captaincy after Steven Gerrard was withdrawn at the end of the first half. Gerrard was guilty of a lunging challenge that forced the withdrawal of Norway's right-back, Tom Hogli, but the Liverpool captain's substitution was pre-planned. Hodgson had also intended to take off Scott Parker off at the interval but the midfielder was showing no reaction to his recent achilles problem and played another 11 minutes of the second half.
By that point the pace of the game had dropped considerably and it continued to do so as both managers started to make wholesale changes. John Arne Riise stung Green's hands with a powerful, diagonal drive but England defended well on the whole. Leighton Baines confirmed he is a capable deputy for Cole and Phil Jagielka, promoted from the standby list, put in an assured performance. Read More
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