England 2 Andorra 0: Routine for Three Lions but debutant shines as they learn from summer

England certainly make it look that way, though.

Four games played, four wins, four clean sheets.

With five minutes to play Villa Park's Holte End was looking very sparse indeed. Good football matches need jeopardy, and England's outside of the major tournaments badly lack it, but you can hardly blame them for that.

If the Three Lions can follow up this comfortable victory over Andorra by winning in Serbia on Tuesday they can open up an eight-point gap over the team currently second in their group.

So results are not the currency England should be judged by. A 2-0 win over the 174th-best team in world football would hardly be cause to get the bunting out if it was, but this was more about seeing if Thomas Tuchel’s team had learnt the lessons of a pretty dismal summer. The signs were that they have, but there is certainly still more to be done.

Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson made an assured debut as England's midfield anchorman, winning the ball well on the few occasions he had to, and using it well when it was at his feet.

And Noni Madueke backed up his performance against Andorra in June to further push his claims to play when everyone in England’s ludicrously-talented attack is fit.

Madueke does not have the star quality of some of his rivals to play in the penultimate line of what started out as broadly a 4-2-3-1 but became more like 4-1-4-1, but in eight England caps, he has shown the best of himself, which the likes of Phil Foden – missing through injury – cannot always say. He also linked well with his new Arsenal team-mate Eberechi Eze, who played inside him.

It was a low bar but England played with more tempo and width than in June's dismal 1-0 win over Andorra in Barcelona.

As Tuchel watched sat on a drinks cooler it was a long way from Bielsa ball but a definite step up from the turgid fare of the summer.

Inside the first three minutes both Marcus Rashford, on the left, and Madueke on the right had got to the byline, albeit without success. Twice in the early stages Rashford played raking passes to his opposite winger to try and shift Andorra's rigid 5-4-1 around. At one point, Jordan Pickford was on edge of the centre circle trying to play his part.

With England inevitably dominating possession, it felt like the opening goal was coming but, like in June, it did not open the floodgates. Nothing would.

Harry Kane had the game's first shot but, falling backwards, it was comfortable for Ilker Alvarez. Eze's effort a few minutes later was no more taxing. Madueke had a shot blocked when a corner was worked to him.

Just before the goal Kane was just unable to get on the end of a low cross from the right.

In the 25th minute, England made the breakthrough – or rather Andorra made it for them.

Anderson, the deeper of England's two holding midfielders, slipped Madueke in for a cross aimed at Declan Rice, but headed in by defender Christian Garcia.

Disappointingly, England did not go for the throat, Kane heading a Madueke cross over one of the few chances in what remained of the first period.

England missed their chance to double the lead in a flurry at the start of the second period.

Rashford missed a good chance when the save from Eze fell to him after Madueke went down the line to great the chance.

Anderson won the ball pressing high but after exchanging passes with Kane, was denied by a sharp save from Alvarez’s right hand. And although Eze was offside when he missed the target from Rashfoird's pull-back, it summed up the first 10 minutes of the half.

It was Rice who finally added a second in the 67th minute, though much of the credit went to Tuchel favourite James, preferred to Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sheffield-born Kyle Walker.

As the half went on, England's wingers spent more time in the inside-forward channels, making space for the full-backs to go on the outside.

With three substitutes waiting to come on – one for James, one for Rice, as it turned out, the former crossed for the latter to guide a header in.

The 67th minute goal pretty much killed the game, prompting a raft of substitutions from both sides. Djed Spence, once of Leeds, was denied a debut, though.

Former Sheffield United loanee Morgan Gibbs-White did come off the bench, and half-volleyed wide in the 84th minute, but it was a low-key end to a same-old, same-old England qualifier.

Not that we should complain too much – Germany for one would have loved such a good week.

England: Pickford; James (Livramento 69(, Guehi (Konsa 76), Burn, Lewis-Skelly; Anderson, Rice (Rogers 69); Madueke, Eze (Gibbs-White 78), Rashford (Gordon 69); Kane.

Unused substitutes: J Henderson, D Henderson, Spence, Loftus-Cheek, Watkins, Bowen, Trafford.

Andorra: Alvarez; Borra, Llovera, Garcia, Olivera, San Nicolas; Rodrigo (Da Cunha 82), Babot (Rebes 90), Vales (Guillen 58), Cervos (Jesus Rubio 90); Fernandez (Lopez 58).

Unused substitutes: Pires, De las Heras, Vales, Alex Ruiz, Alexandro Martínez, Da Silva, Marc Garcia.

Referee: A Mohammed (Finland).