LeeDixon

Friday night saw a winning start for England and a clean sweep for this column. You can't say fairer than a 5-0 away win and you can't argue with three successful bets. England were excellent in Moldova and, while nobody is getting carried away after hammering the 141st best team in the world, you can only beat what's in front of you. At the start of a World Cup qualifying campaign, getting the simple things right is essential. That's what Roy Hodgson's men did in Chisinau and they now have a decent platform to build on. Tom Cleverley won plaudits for his performance on his first competitive start. Rightly so, he benefited from having Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard behind him, and his surges in to the box were a key part of England's dominance. I was very impressed by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain....

Even with a depleted forward line England will beat Moldova, and they will do so handsomely. That doesn't mean scoring a bucketful of goals, but a solid victory without conceding will represent a job well done from our first World Cup 2014 qualifying match. I'm about to sit down for the DVD of Moldova v Hungary - thanks, ITV! - but without watching that we already know that this is a gentle introduction to the qualifying campaign for Roy Hodgson. Moldova are 141st in the world rankings, and finished one place above minnow's minnow San Marino in Group E when comprehensively failing to reach Euro 2012. There were a couple of notable results in that campaign, with the Dutch restricted to a pair of 1-0 wins but there's nothing for England to fear. Even the stadium is a tiddler with just...

England are safely through to the quarter-finals after topping their group against the odds. Here are the main talking points ahead of their quarter-final with Italy. [b]The draw[/b] There's always a tendency to get ahead of yourself and try to work out who you will be playing at each stage. Apparently Roy Hodgson was watching the Spain match on Monday night live on TV and now has to watch videos of Italy's game. The consensus is that England have done well to avoid Spain but personally I don't think there's a huge amount in it. Italy have been better than many would have expected, Spain not quite as good as many expected. They've kept a lot of possession as ever but don't always make the best use of it. Italy are a bit more of an unknown quantity in terms of how they'll play...

The biggest positive from the Sweden match was obviously the result. Over the course of a long season a manager will look at the performances as much as the results because you can't keep on getting results over the course of nine or 10 months without playing well. But in a tournament like this, one bad result, however well you played, is normally enough to send you home. So England will take those three points and not worry too much about how they got them. The other big positive from the match was the spirit the England players showed. At 2-1 down they were going out. And they weren't passing the ball that well and having long spells of pressure so a comeback looked pretty unlikely. But they showed belief, togetherness and fighting spirit and in the end were probably just about good...

The general consensus after the draw with France is that England were a little better than we expected but have a lot of improving to do if they're to be serious contenders to win this. I don't think many people would be backing us to beat Germany in a knock-out match the way Jogi Low's team are playing. Russia have looked impressive going forward even though they haven't been tested that much at the back and Italy could be pretty tough to beat, too. And you can say what you like about Spain not playing a striker but the way they pass the ball and move, the system they go with may become pretty immaterial. I still think Germany are the team to beat though and that England's price of 14.5 looks about right. [u]Team selection[/u] I don't think England can beat one of the big guns...

Organisation is key in international tournaments and England have a manager who specialises in it. Roy Hodgson has had little time to prepare for Euro 2012 but the fact that he's the first England boss to have managed at international level before bodes well. One of the reasons Hodgson was unpopular as a Liverpool manager was that he emphasises focus and discipline ahead of flair but, if England string together a few more 1-0 wins over the next few weeks, fans won't be complaining. We may have lower expectations than at recent tournaments but I think that's a good thing. France are favourites to win Monday night's Group D opener but England might relish underdog status. Laurent Blanc has done a good job since taking over after the 2010 World Cup where Les Bleus failed spectacularly. ...

[u]England expects ... or does it?[/u] It's almost unprecedented in the modern era for England to go into a major tournament with the public expecting so little from them. The reasons for that are obvious: there's a new manager at the helm, they will be without their first-choice striker for the first two games and this is a competition where, 1996 aside, they have traditionally struggled. It's no surprise really and perhaps, after the hysteria of previous tournaments, it's encouraging that people are taking this adult stance on our chances. [u]And maybe it's a good thing.[/u] In the past the Three Lions have struggled to match the expectations of fans and pundits, yet with the pressure off and hopes at a low ebb perhaps the team can relax and put in a good, solid tournament performance....