England has long craved footballers with the intelligence to adapt and operate in a number of areas on the pitch. Jones fits that bill, and his assiduous defending at right-back was matched by the purpose and cleverness he exhibited on every forward raid.
The 21 year-old ex-Blackburn Rovers player is equally blessed with the attributes to function in the pivotal holding midfield berth. Michael Carrick’s characteristic showing on Wednesday night contained a sprinkling of his usual crisp and incisive passing, but lacked the authority that the very best in his position assert. Carrick’s inability to really take charge of a match is why David Moyes, in his new job at Manchester United, will prioritise the recruitment of a player who has that capability.
When the Moldovan’s arrive at Wembley on September 6th, and more crucially, when England travel to Ukraine four days later, Hodgson’s team will have Steven Gerrard and Jack Wilshere at its heart. The Liverpool man, in his dotage playing years, contributes more to his national team that at any previous stage of his career. Limited in mobility by ageing limbs, Gerrard employs his vast experience to protect his back-four, without any requirement to sacrifice a range of passing which will bring the side’s attacking cavalry into the game.
Wilshere is the most exciting English talent to emerge since Rooney. His stop-start career is set to bloom. When Brazil were deservedly beaten in London earlier this year, Wilshere was the standout player from either country. If such a notable result is to be dismissed as merely a friendly, then surely the same rule should be applied to last night’s contest – and indeed the impending return against next year’s World Cup hosts in which England will be sorely weakened by the expanding list of absentees.
An additional pleasing outcome from Wednesday’s run-out was Ben Foster’s second-half appearance. Joe Hart, regardless of an inconsistent year in Manchester City’s goal, is worthy of his Number 1 berth. Notwithstanding that, steadily increased competition from Foster, Reading’s Alex McCarthy, and Jack Butland, now of Stoke City, is a boon.
With the range of aforementioned Englishmen straining to make their international breakthrough, – not forgetting names such as Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, Wilfried Zaha, and Matthew Lowton – and with the reliable Cole, Gerrard, and Lampard still very much on the scene, there is nothing to suggest that this country’s football is team heading backwards.
As a last thought, it would be interesting to know when exactly the ‘dark ages’, of which Lineker speaks, actually were. Perhaps he has in mind the dire England teams which flopped at the European Championships of 1988 and 1992, in which he played a full part?
That is not to denigrate Lineker’s own ability. He remains one of the finest exponents of his trade that this writer has witnessed, and he was integral to the stellar World Cup campaigns of 1986 and 1990. In fact, the vicissitudes of fortune experienced by the man who scored 48 goals in his 80 England outings possibly best exemplify the capricious nature of the international game. There is a real danger in attempting to interpret excessive amounts from a single game – or even tournament.
Any team will be diminished if shorn of its leading protagonists. Barcelona without Messi is the prime case in point. On the international stage, Germany with no Bastian Schweinsteiger, World and European champions Spain deprived of Xavi or Andres Iniesta, and Italy without the prompting of Andrea Pirlo, would all present less formidable opposition.
This England team is by no means ready to rival those heavyweights. It is a work in progress, which is making incremental but forward steps.
Still, if progress is deemed to be unsatisfactory, the fella who has just taken Queens Park Rangers down would jump at the chance to replace Roy Hodgson.
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