Ross Barkley thunderbolt ignites England to 100% Euro record

They have completed the mission without a blemish and for that they deserve credit.

Will his pride extend to putting the wonderfully gifted 21-year-old in England’s starting line-up at Euro 2016?

“We’re delighted that St George’s Park has played an integral role in the squad’s preparations during qualification”.

England’s group may have been the easiest in qualifying, but the achievement should not be sniffed at, and again the likes of Barkley, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana showed glimpses of class.

“It’s got to be positive because there was nothing positive to come out of the World Cup”, he added.

Then, he accused the media of having an “obsession” with Barkley before criticising the number of times he gave the ball away. Isn’t that a sign of strength firstly in his own managerial ability and secondly in the players, either the young or the tried and tested he has used to what can only be described as great effect.

Overall, however, it is the growing maturity in Barkley’s performances in what is a pivotal season for him that has caught the eye.

Another excellent performance from a young player growing in worldwide stature with every England game.

Jamie Vardy, Danny Ings and Saido Berahino will need to have terrific campaigns in order to oust the establish order, while Danny Welbeck may struggle to get enough gametime with Arsenal to force a way in, despite his decent record for England.

“You can see, slowly, he is fulfilling that potential but he has the mentality of a great player”. Elegant, powerful and possessed of the ability to produce the unexpected – with a goal to decorate his display.

While results in other groups have shown a few lesser lights can be troublesome, England, for the most part, have not had much to beat.

“Basically, he is aligning that coaching advice to his enormous talent and we are seeing the benefit of it. He is not always going to score spectacular goals and dribble past people as if they are not there and against better opposition he will find that harder as well”.

The warning was backed up by Everton defender Phil Jagielka, who says Hodgson must be more “selfish” when picking players for the forthcoming high-profile friendlies with Spain and France in November and Germany and Holland in March.

“It would have been a surprise if we had not qualified”.

Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane knows his side will have to be at their very best ahead of Saturday’s clash against Premier League rivals Liverpool. “We’ll see how we deal with that”.