By IAN WRIGHT
FORMER England striker and SunSport columnist Ian Wright faced the questions after watching England’s 1-1 draw away in Montenegro. And here is what the Arsenal legend had to say about the point in Podgorica…
WHERE does this leave our hopes of making Brazil 2014?
We are now in a very precarious position. One thing is for sure we cannot afford any more slip ups.
Montenegro remain two points ahead of us which means we probably have to win all of our remaining fixtures to avoid the play-offs.
WHAT must Roy Hodgson change if we are to get through?
We are getting to that stage now where he has to take a chance.
The Three Lions boss has always stuck with defensively solid players like James Milner and Ashley Cole.
But we are up against it now and he may to gamble on more offensive stars like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Leighton Baines.
It might go against his principles but something needs to be done.
ARE Montenegro better than we thought?
No not really. They are a good team in their own stadium. All they did was put some pressure on us and we could not cope.
We outplayed them in the first half. We started so well and rocked them with an early goal.
But how can a team be so much in control in the first half, scoring after just six minutes and then be forced to defend for the second 45?
I thought we’d rammed their coach’s pre-match comments down his throat before the break. But they came back to haunt us.
He said we were a long-ball team and in the second half we proved him right.
WHAT went wrong in the second half?
We could not retain the ball and didn’t have any attacking options.
Every time we looked to go forward we had nobody showing.
It seemed we were waiting for something to happen, rather than trying to make something happen.After such an excellent first-half we handed them the impetus.
They brought on a sub and that stopped Glen Johnson from getting forward down the right.
Wayne Rooney hardly touched the ball and we were left without any options going forward. Tactically something went very wrong.
WHAT do you think Hodgson should have done?
I would have sent on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Milner. The Manchester City man may be better defensively but we needed an outball. Every time we looked to break we had no one to play the ball to.
Yes Johnson is good going forward and Milner does a great job defensively.
But it is Johnson’s job to defend and Milner’s job to get forward. The roles are muddled and it is causing us problems.
We need some creativity from midfield going forward. It is not up to the full-backs to supply the attacking threat. Milner worked hard. So did Welbeck. So did a lot of players. But we need to be more technically and tactically astute in possession.
It was our failure to keep the ball that ultimately cost us.
WHAT about the first half?
It was a thoroughly professional performance. We set the tone by getting off to a good start.
In a typically English way we built up the Montenegrins as though they are giants of world football.
That put pressure on ourselves, along with the fact that we had to win to take control of the group.
MONTENEGRO vowed to wind up Rooney after his red card there last time. How did you rate him?
For me, his temperament was never in doubt.
Did people seriously think he was going to go out and get sent off again after what happened last time?
Montenegro made no secret of the fact they wanted to wind him up.
Unfortunately for them they could not get near him.
Even if they had, Rooney’s attitude was never in doubt in my book.
He was never going to let England down last night.
He reacted to their pre-match taunts in the best way possible — with a goal.
It is easy to forget he has been playing top-flight football since he was 16.
Some people have always criticised him and will continue to do so, but there is no doubt he’s a top player.
I would love to see him show the world that in Brazil.
