England's win did nothing to raise expectations

England beat Peru 3-0 in their last warm-up game on home soil before the World Cup. Frankly the scoreline flattered England.

The highlight was undoubtedly Daniel Sturridge's left-foot beauty to open the scoring. A touch of class in an otherwise low-quality encounter. Sturridge got the man of the match award for his goal, but apart from that he was unimpressive.

England's insipid display was typical of their thrustless, sideways, stumbling performances. Without a Townsend, a Walcott or an Oxlade-Chamberlain, there is no one who is willing to carry the ball forward 20 or 30 yards and make the opposition start to worry. When Raheem Sterling came on in the second half, he DID show some of that forward thinking that is required. Passing it around the back four, the goalkeeper and the two holding midfielders will not worry the opposition. Neither will chipping the ball forward to tightly-marked attackers.

There were also troubling signs of defensive problems with several unforced errors. A weak Peru team was unable to punish them, but don't expect the same profligacy from Italy, Uruguay or even Costa Rica.

The only good thing about England's performance was that it will do nothing to raise expectations!

Where will England's goals come from?

Not very impressive from England. Back-to-back home defeats and not a single goal scored.

I know all the arguments about 'experiments' and 'giving people a game', but it doesn't disguise the fact that, actually, England are not very good.

Roy Hodgson says there is time, but there isn't. I believe there is only one friendly between now and the selection of the initial squad. No time at all.

The major problem is our lack of a goal-scoring threat. Last night against Germany England had NO shots on target. None. Germany had five attempts on target, meaning that Joe Hart at least had the chance to prove himself. And he did.

But going forward England are poor. Andros Townsend makes excellent ground with the ball. Wayne Rooney makes space - by coming deeper - but Daniel Sturridge plainly is not good enough. Rickie Lambert got a few minutes, but not enough to make an impact.

There are also problems at the back. Chris Smalling looked second-best when it mattered. Ashley Cole lost possession, lost tackles and was out of position on too many occasions. His day has surely gone.

Roy Hodgson has got time: many long, lonely nights to contemplate where England's next goal may come from.

Liverpool play on to score as Dzeko lies on the ground - YES! PLAY ON!

I have nothing against Manchester City. In fact, I quite admire the way they have become challengers and winners of the Premier League title.

However, I was quite delighted when Daniel Sturridge scored a goal against City for Liverpool yesterday. The circumstances were that a challenge on Edin Dzeko on the halfway line left the City striker on the ground - and he decided to stay there. The Manchester City fans - not their players, I must emphasise - howled for Liverpool to kick the ball out of play, but they didn't and went on to put the ball out of play in the best possible way - into City's net. (Sturridge, in deference, presumably to his old club, City, did not celebrate.)

AT LAST, someone has scored while a player lies on the ground. There is NO RULE that commands a team to put the ball out of play when a player is lying on the ground. The REFEREE can stop the game if he perceives an injury to be serious. This, quite obviously, was not serious, and I don't believe Dzeko received any treatment after the goal was scored.

HOORAY! Let's stop this nonsense of kicking the ball out of play for players lying on  the ground, and get on with the game.