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Last Updated: Wednesday, 12 October 2005, 21:48 GMT 22:48 UK
Shearer and Hansen praise England
In stark contrast to the assessment which followed England's win against Austria on Saturday, the victory over Poland left the Match of the Day pundits purring.

Alan Shearer and Alan Hansen give their verdicts on the 2-1 win which saw England end their World Cup qualification campaign on top of their group.


Alan Shearer
Newcastle striker and BBC Sport columnist

The key was starting well, as it's very difficult to improve when you've started poorly.

Everything was right about the game - Frank Lampard ran the midfield with Ledley King sitting behind him.

It meant Lampard didn't have the extra responsibility of thinking whether he could go forward or not, and I thought King did a fantastic job.

People have been saying that having a player sit in front of the back four could help the midfield and it certainly looked that way.

King, Nicky Butt, Scott Parker and Michael Carrick can all play that role, so there is hope for those players.

I think the manager Sven-Goran Eriksson deserves some praise. He has achieved his first objective of qualifying for the World Cup.

And he changed some things around tonight and it worked very, very well.


Alan Hansen
BBC Sport football expert

England looked a good side, they had the better of the chances and the play - they got right at the Poles from the word go.

They were higher up the pitch, compressed the play and there were some great performances - one or two of the players will have given Eriksson food for thought.

King was fantastic in the holding midfield role - better than I thought he could possibly play.

He showed excellent positional sense and he was disciplined and he wasn't bad on the ball either.

Looking at his performance tonight, he has a decent chance of making the position his own.

England will take confidence from their performance and it will hold them in good stead.

The manager was due for criticism after the last few England performances but a good manager can accept it and change things.

Eriksson has and it has worked for him.




WATCH AND LISTEN
Interview: England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson


Interview: England's Frank Lampard


Interview: England skipper Michael Owen


Interview: England's Ledley King



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