How good was England's display?

England followed up a less than impressive performance against Finland with a hard fought victory over Albania.

Was it more important for England to play attractive football or gain that vital away victory?

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The win in Tirana means England's hopes of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup are still alive.

But they struggled before finally imposing themselves on the game.

Andy Cole finally silenced the critics with a goal. How did you rate his overall contribution to the game?

Who was England's Man of the Match? Did Sven's team selection play dividends on the night?

On the evidence of the displays against Finland and Albania, is Sven going about things the right way?

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It was only after the game had finished and I changed channels to watch Spain v France that I realised how poor England are in comparison to other major footballing nations.The levels of skill, ball control, vision & execution just do not compare.

Whereas England fought hard and earned a deserved victory in Albania, I feel that against a good international side they would suffer a severe hammering.
Paul Warren, UK

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Paul Scholes was my man of the match. He created Owen's goal and set up and scored a goal for himself. What more could you ask for.

Andy Cole's input to the game was poor for the first 80 minutes. However, he appeared happier once Teddy Sheringham was on the pitch. Maybe he feels intimidated by the presence of Michael Owen? I think having Owen and Cole on the pitch is the problem, not Andy Cole himself.

Overall though, a good victory for England, but I was saddened at the end when Ashley Cole appeared to be hit by some sort of missile. That sort of behavior is unnecessary.
Jeff Scholey, UK

Andy Cole appeared happier once Teddy Sheringham was on the pitch.

  Jeff Scholey, UK

Both teams, Albania and England were almost equal. There was not a big difference between a small, unknown Albania and a famous England. I think that the second goal of Albanians was correct. England had real luck to win against Albania

I am proud of Albania.
Renis H., Albania

I think that consistency is what England need and Sven seems to be bringing that to the team. After Keegan's over-bouyancy and Hoddle's tendency to attract the press for the wrong reasons, the team needed someone to steady the ship. I think Eriksonn's level-headedness will rub off on the team and we can expect to see some composed and professional performances.

A revolution has happened in terms of the younger players coming through, and the team should have gelled together properly in time for 2002. Bring on Germany!
Peter Stone, England

Nice result, but at no time during the game did I think "This is in the bag". I real lack of creativity in midfield, we had possession but didn't create enough real clear cut chances. Gerrard was sorely missed, as well a s McMannaman in the second half.

We really don't have anyone in midfield that likes to run at defenders and open up space like the other top international teams. Maybe it's time for Joe Cole.
Edward Roberts, U.S.A

We really don't have anyone in midfield that likes to run at defenders and open up space like the other top international teams

  Edward Roberts, U.S.A

It was a crucial win. Looking at the final four fixtures, you can guarantee home wins against Greece, who do not travel well, and Albania.

This means that Finland would have to get nine points out of twelve points to even have a chance of challenging for the runner-up spot, and they still have two matches against the rubbish, but lucky, Germany.
Jeff Scholey, UK

Well done England, and well done the Coles! Great debut for Ashley and well done Andy for keeping on going in the face of all the criticism, and after having a not-to-splendid first hour.

Lest we forget, he won the match by laying on a tap-in for Scholes and by scoring at the death to end the Albanian mini-revival. Not the greatest England performance by a long way, but it's now three wins in a row for Svens young team, and that can only build confidence for the players.

What we need in the England team is a strong sense of self-belief, and this result should go a long way to instilling that. Bring on Greece and Germany!
Ian Wall, Ex-pat, USA

Although the result was the most important thing, what I find pleasing is that Sven is prepared to stick with the same team and not change it all the time.

What is promising is that our defence is young and can only get better, our midfield needs to take a leaf out of David Beckhams book and show more commitment but has the talent, and we could have a promising attack line up with Cole and Owen.

Overall things are looking up for England but we still have a long way to go. Just look at the Spain/France game. Spain were very different to the one we beat at Villa Park, but I believe we are at least going the right way and we should qualify for the World Cup.
John, England

"The remaining qualifying matches under Sven are all about grinding out results"

  Danny,England

From what I saw of the game against Albania, it was somewhat notable the way the whole team played rather differently to the times of old when an English man managed England. There seemed to be none of this hoof the ball up front rubbish, no trying to be fancy etc. Passing the ball well, keeping possession of the ball and in most cases the basic rules were stuck to. In all, it was a good sturdy performance by the whole team.
Gary, England

We must not forget that the game in Albania was only the third full game for this young England team. As long as Mr. Eriksson can keep a settled side, I think the performances can only get better. How can you argue with three wins from three matches and EIGHT goals into the bargain?!!!
Mark Cocker, England

I think last night's England performance was enough to win that particular match. I believe that this current England side can go on to greater things. Already we are seeing the formation of a team rather than a collection of individuals that we have had in the past. I was very pleased to see Andy Cole get his goal as hopefully people may now get off his back. Well done Sven for sticking by your own opinions rather than those of the press.
Gary English, UK

After the last 2 games I am convinced that England are on the verge of regaining her crown as the world's supreme footballing force. We can win the World Cup and we will.
Jamie Coventry, England

"For the first 75 mins we were poor, there didnt seem to be any continuity with the play"

  Paul Hitch, England

What was very apparent last night was that England continues to lack that player who can dictate play from central midfield. Beckham isn't the answer; he is too much of a one-touch player. Scholes goes missing too much. The French have Zidane, the Brazilians have Rivaldo and Djalminja, the Portuguese have Figo and Rui Costa, the Italians have Totti, the Finns have Litmanen, the Argentineans have Ortega, Veron, Gallardo or Aimar and the Dutch have Seedorf. Until England find this player, they will forever be looking up to the likes of Brazil and France.
Daniel Peters, England

David Sanderson could not have been watching the same game as me. 'Cole gave the ball away too much' I believe were his words. Overall Cole had a better game than Owen, and he always looked dangerous when running at the defence. He scored; he created one what else did he need to do! People like David Sanderson are just getting on the diabolical media bandwagon of Cole is no good. Open your eyes David and judge for yourself instead of letting the media do it for you!
Marvin, Manchester

Future looks indeed bright for England, when you consider the age of the players. With young guns like Joe Cole, Luke Chadwick, Paul Robinson, Alan Smith or Gareth Barry coming next, this team could play together for years. However, I think we have to be patient, because the very peak of the team's performance may not come before 2004 - 2006. Then let the other nations beware.
Patrick, Germany

A good result, but not a good performance. We were lucky they did not equalise when their player was clearly on side to make it 2-2. I think we can carry on winning if the players keep playing for each other like they did last night. As for Andy Cole, the best thing he did all night was get booked so he misses the next game.
Pete, England

"The worst thing about this game was watching it here in England on Channel 5 with those awful animated "adverts" around the pitch, garish colours, and moving images forcibly distracted the viewer from the real action

  Rick, UK

All looks well for the future, with Sven maturely and bravely showing that he's not scared of overlooking people's pasts, and not judging people on what they have or havent done before. This has finally given the youngsters a chance.
Chris Handley, Manchester, England

Please feel free to shoot me down, but the continual press that Beckham gets as this fantastic saviour of English football is a touch over zealous. Yes he's a good player, who can cross a ball, but dominate a match and create from the midfield.... no I just cannot see it. Good to see Scholes play well in the midfield and young Cole at the back.
Ian Irvine, Northern Ireland

A question? Why does Eriksson not show the same persistence with McManaman as he does with Cole? For the long term good of the team he must persist with McManaman. He scares defenders on the international scene as we so often see him do in Spain. Substituting him at half time was a mistake in both games. We looked unbalanced in the second half. Give McManaman a 2nd half against tiring defenders - Erik - you know it makes sense.
Stephen, England

"England did what they had to do and that was to win. Who cares about showmanship, as long as they qualify that is surely all that matters"

  Tim Mac - Nicol, U.K.

Six points out of a possible six from these two games were always the priority. That's been achieved and, although there was some good fortune to help us, it should not detract from the bright start that Sven has made with the team. The team should be built around a 'core' unit of Beckham, Scholes, Owen, Campbell, R. Ferdinand (who'll come good in the end!) Neville G. and Seaman (for the qualifiers at least, I'm not convinced he'll be of such value come the World Cup tournament itself in just over a year's time). Other players from a pool of 15 or so should be swapped in and out dependent upon who the opposition is. This will give England the best chance of reaching the finals and performing well in Korea.
John, England

I was delighted for Cole getting his first goal for his country. Surely that will be the first of many and he will go on to be one of England's all time top scorers.
Gavin T Thompson, Scotland

The 2-1 victory for England against Finland, followed by a battling performance in Albania, in what appeared more than hostile conditions, were two amazing performances, especially considering the huge importance of the two games.

In saying all this, in my view Eriksson has had no real impact. Although Eriksson in time will undoutedly impose his stlye of play upon the England setup, at the moment he is benefting from the natrual progression and developement of the England team.

After Euro 2000 sports writers continually advocated that the England's futre was looking considerably bright, considering the amount of young talent, and with the retirement of players like Tony Adams and emergence of Rio Ferdinand, Gerrard, Joe and Ashley Cole etc they were right! Indeed the situation is similar to that of Leeds Utd, when O'Leary initially benefited from the framework of young talent constructed by George Graham.
Junior Myrie, Lincoln ( England)

It may not have been the greatest England performance, however, the team showed great perseverance in a tricky game and in a very hostile atmosphere.

Apart from Rio Ferdinand's mistake which gifted Albania a goal, England dominated throughout and ultimately got the result that the whole of England wanted.

It's an exciting time for English football! With players like Beckham, Scholes Owen and with the guidance of Sven Goran Eriksson, there is no reason why England should not become a dominant force in World football again.
Enzo Diliberto, England

We were very lucky to win against Albania after such a poor performance.

  Mark, England

I thought that England played very poorley last night and that the final score flattered England. A last minute tap in by Andy Cole also did not change my view that Cole is simply not good enough for international football.

You may point to Germany only having scraped through against Albania but as has been highly documented Germany at present has one of their worst teams in decades!

England on the other hand has a team which has many promosing young players, we were very lucky to win against Albania after such a poor performance.
Mark, England

The most impressive thing is that the new coach is so matter of fact, realistic and quietly supportive of his players. He keeps a wonderfully cool head and misses nothing - good or bad.

It's only matter of time before all those excellent players start to click as a team.
Dave Smith, New Zealand

Although the result was good, the teams performance lacked conviction and style. I'm glad Andy Cole redeemed himself with a goal, but I thought his performance overall was lacking. His passing was inaccurate and he was presented with some excellant crosses from Beckham but failed to finish.

Overall things look promising, it will be interesting to see how the team perform against a quality team.
Ian, England

Overall things look promising, it will be interesting to see how the team perform against a quality team.

  Ian, England

People shouldn't be misled by the late flurry of goals. This game was heading for a 0-0 stalemate until yet again Owen pops up with a cool finish. Only after we went in front did space appear for the others to exploit.

Yes Cole scored, but he still gives the ball away too easily and is not an international class footballer.
David Sanderson, England

The moment of the match for me was when Andy Cole scored his goal, and he was surrounded by the rest of the English team as they all celebrated.

This personified the new team spirit that has been instilled in the team by their new coach Sven Goran Eriksson.

He seems to be able to encourage the players to play well and to stick by each other, and he has been vindicated by giving Cole a second chance, even though the press was baying for his blood and demanding that he should be dropped from the team.
Rab, Scotland

A new team spirit that has been instilled in the team by their new coach Sven Goran Eriksson.

  Rab, Scotland

England won but they lack creativity. They can dominate but cannot create chances. There is no problem with the defence nor the attack, just with the creativity department.
Oisin, Canada

Things are moving in the right direction with Ashley Cole playing and Sven sticking by Andy Cole.
Tom, England

Another disappointing game as far as the performance goes. Although the result is what matter the most, it just makes me nervous when we constantly perform the way we did for the first seventy minutes against teams such as Finland and Albania. Hopefully now Cole has finally scored it will be the start of a windfall of goals for him. I don't think he should be playing for England but as long as he does I hope he proves me wrong everytime!
Jon, USA

I believe that we can definitely qualify now. We are at last consistently winning games under Sven and tonight the defence looked so promising in terms of their age.
Ben J, England

Gary Neville was the Man of the Match

  Samuel, Kenya

It's more important to get a result in qualifying matches than to play well. If England manage to qualify for Japan nobody will care how they did it. Germany are typical for this style: they never play well in qualifying matches but are almost always present in major tournaments. That is what I call efficiency.
Andy O'Connor, Germany

England played very well considering it was an away game. It was a superb show from Ashley Cole who was not only confident but also displayed skills. For Andy Cole, he had a great game considering the pressure surrounding him. Maybe I'm wrong but Gary Neville was the Man of the Match. He covered his position so well, ran and created chances. It was an impressive show from all the players. Beckham, the captain, also played his heart out.
Samuel K, Kenya

I feel we can easily qualify but it will be via the play-offs. We are unable to catch the Germans after their win in Greece. Andy Cole had a good game and I'm happy for him that he scored - hopefully now the Press will get off his back. People forget that half of his 13 caps were sub appearances when he only got 10 minutes. The defence looked good, and Gary Neville did excellently getting forward and providing crosses like he did in euro 1996. It was a good result for us but the performance could have been a little better.
Paul Muller, England

England's victory in Tirana suggests a new found maturity is developing in this young English squad. England desperately needed to win this game to keep daylight between themselves and their closest rivals. To go to Albania and win, and win well, in front of a packed stadium of hostile supporters deserves the highest praise - well done England.
Tony McKeown, New Zealand

England looked flat and at times uninspiring

  Rosemarie, England

The result was excellent but we need to tighten up our midfield. I thought that we definitely missed the aggression of Gerrard but the youth of Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown in defence is particularly encouraging. i thought they performed well tonight but again showed the occasional lack of concentration that better teams than albania would have capitalised on. bodes well for the future though and it looks like Sven Goran Ericsson really is going to be the man for the job.
Ben, England

England looked flat and at times uninspiring - Nicky Butt was dreadful - he gave the ball to the opposition far too often - perhaps the red shirts confused him? Cole had a much better game and deserved his goal. Owen was excellent as usual but Gerrard was definitely missed. Beckham played well but the goal given away by Ferdinand could also be blamed on sloppy play by Beckham and Seaman. Seaman is lucky to be in the team - my choice would be Paul Robinson. Overall Sven is on the right track. We look forward to June - bring on Greece.
Rosemarie Blanshard, England