Wingers given licence to thrill despite possession going astray

Against Norway, an inability to keep hold of the ball, particularly in the second half, took much of the gloss off the new manager’s first game ending in a 1-0 victory.

Belgium being beaten by an identical scoreline at Wembley in the final warm-up game before Euro 2012 was an improvement on the Three Lions’ efforts in Oslo but, even so, there could be little argument that the home side were still far too wasteful when it came to executing even the simplest of passes – a point underlined by the statistics which revealed that Marc Wilmots’s side bossed possession by 62 per cent to 38 in the first half and 58-42 after the break.

Once at the European Championships, common consensus suggests England will not be able to afford such profligacy against the likes of France and Sweden.

Hodgson is well aware of that, though he also believes the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have to be given the freedom to express themselves after the teenager was accused in some quarters of putting in an “over-excitable” performance against the Belgians.

The 18-year-old was handed his first senior start at Wembley and showed flashes of the ability that, at times this season, has had Arsenal fans drooling.

However, he was also one of the culprits guilty of squandering possession – particularly in the first half when Belgian right-back, Guillaume Gillet, often had the measure of the speedy Portsmouth-born winger.

Despite that, Hodgson refuses to condemn Oxlade-Chamberlain with the England manager, instead, revealing a preference for his wide men to lose the ball taking a chance rather than keep it by opting for a safety-first approach.

“It is a good fault isn’t it?” said Hodgson ahead of his squad flying out to their training base in Krakow on Wednesday.

“We have been trying to encourage that a little bit. Our message to the players has been that they have to be brave and show some courage.

“They have to try it on. If it doesn’t work, we will take the responsibility.

“We would rather they take it on than turn back because they are worried if they try and go by the defender and lose the ball they are going to get criticised. He took that message very much on board and with a stricter or a kinder referee he might have got a few free-kicks on some of the occasions when he lost the ball.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain was one of a couple of players to give Hodgson plenty to ponder ahead of the opening game in Group D a week today against France.

Danny Welbeck, the goalscorer against the Belgians, also pushed his claim to be involved in the starting XI while Wayne Rooney sits out the first two games through suspension.

After Andy Carroll had been preferred against Norway, it was expected that the Liverpool striker would start on June 11 in Donetsk alongside Ashley Young.

However, Welbeck’s first international goal – which came after an exchange of passes with Old Trafford team-mate Young – is likely to have boosted the 21-year-old’s hopes of getting the nod ahead of Carroll.

Hodgson, though, would not be drawn on the identity of his starting line-up a week today against a French side whose susceptibility in the centre of defence to a physical striker could make Carroll a strong contender.

He said: “Obviously when I put the 23 together the Welbeck-Rooney combination was in my mind because they have done well this year.

“But, purely and simply, Andy Carroll gave me a good idea of what I can expect from him in Norway last week.

“I wanted to give Danny the same chance to make a good impression.

“The positive thing from my point of view is that both of them did pretty well.”

Elsewhere, the biggest quandaries for Hodgson appear to involve who starts out wide in the midfield and which of his central defenders will be fit to face the French with the identity of the goalkeeper and the two full-backs seeming set in stone along with a central midfield axis of Scott Parker and captain Steven Gerrard.

Likely starting line-up v France: Hart; Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Cole; Milner, Parker, Gerrard, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Young, Carroll.