International match: Norway v England full-time report

Ashley Young

Norway 0 England 1

One down, one to go and job done.

England began the tenure of Roy Hodgson as the latest England manager with a 1-0 victory over Norway in Oslo that had some positives, maybe some negatives but also ensured that no-one will be getting too charged up before England’s final warm-up match against Belgium next Saturday and Euro 2012.

Several of the starting XI that Hodgson sent out were drawn from what is likely to be the subs’ bench as he chose to rest those Chelsea players who had taken part in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich last weekend as well Wayne Rooney, the Manchester United striker, who will be suspended for the first two matches of the Euros for the red card he received in the final match of England’s qualification group.

Hodgson, as is the prerogative of every new manager, had wiped the slate clean and that included absolving the previous sins of Robert Green, 714 days on from his last international appearance. The West Ham United goalkeeper could not be held responsible for all the travails that beset the squad during the ill-starred World Cup campaign two years ago.

At the other end Andy Carroll, the Liverpool player, was given the lone striker’s role and who probably should have scored in the fourth minute. Stuart Downing, his Liverpool teammate, delivered an incisive cross but Carroll’s powerful header lacked direction.

The start of England’s opening goal, in the ninth minute, may have been direct but its execution showed a team who might just be capable of moving in the right direction. A booted clearance from defence might have been a touch agricultural but it was chested down and controlled by Carroll, who then played the ball on to Ashley Young.

The Manchester United player then took the ball into the Norway penalty area – with Carroll and Gerrard in support and drawing defenders – but Young needed neither as bamboozled Brede Hangeland and then drilled a composed finish low past Rune Almenning Jarstein from 15 yards out.

Green was nearly embarrassed five minutes later when by corner from Morten Gamst Pedersen. The goalkeeper stepped out in a bid to catch the cross but was completely deceived by its flight and was in no-man's land when it struck the unattended near post. Two years could have so easily been the rest of his career.

There was the usual talk from the players of “unfinished business” but it was the way that Hodgson had got down to business – of the no-nonsense variety – that had caused some anxieties among those who had watched training sessions in which the tactics had appeared rather direct.

But there was enough possession football being played by England – even if Norway might not have been the most pressing opposition - to suggest that England could be more subtle than that – as befits a coach who can talk about the game in five different languages.

James Milner, who seemed to be mislaid by Roberto Mancini in the closing weeks of the league season at Manchester City, was looking bright enough down the right flank and the first 45 minutes of the Hodgson tenure looked solid enough, even if Norway got more of a foothold in the closing minutes.

That was a worrying sign for those who had seen England sides drift out of matches in the second half in recent years but in the opening four minutes Leighton Baines had Jarstein scurrying across his line to save a free-kick and Phil Jones hit the post after a surging run into the penalty area.

However, thereafter England spent rather a lot of time in their own half of the pitch. It might have given the England defence a chance to practise their drills but it hardly boded well for the team’s chances for the sterner tests that surely lie ahead – assuming they get out of Group D.

John Arne Riise was always pushing his luck when he tried to beat Green on his near post in the 62nd minute. But the way they Riise had already beaten Theo Walcott was more worrying and Norway were winning the second half on points if not goals.

Gareth Barry, who came on for Gerrard at half-time, gifted Norway a real chance in the 66th minute with a loose pass that allowed Mohammed Abdellaoue a run into the penalty area which was finally snuffed out by Phil Jagielka. The Everton centre-half might only be on the stand-by list but he could not be accused of standing by when his country needed him.

By now Norway were the team with the greater momentum – as Barry went off with a groin strain and Joleon Lescott became the third England captain of the night – without putting Green’s goal in any great danger.

Whether there were any red warning lights for England was another matter.

Roy Hodgson: ‘We've started sowing a few seeds’

Paul Wheeler

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