Roy Hodgson knows he must continue with his process of England evolution if …

Given Wilshere’s struggles in Kyiv, Hodgson has a point. But it can be equally
strongly argued that England’s group is not as daunting as Hodgson has
suggested and there was a recoil at his suggestion earlier in the campaign
that his team were in a “dogfight”.

The opponents he lists are certainly competent, but little more than that.
There is also an argument that England had little to lose if Hodgson had
called a press conference before a ball was kicked and said that now was the
time to build for the future – that he would give youth its head, hold his
nerve and ride it out if they failed to qualify for Brazil because the group
would be all the stronger for the 2016 European Championship and the 2018 World
Cup. That there was a plan.

Hodgson selected Ross Barkley, Andros Townsend and Raheem Sterling for his
most recent squad but only used 19-year-old Barkley — as a substitute
against Moldova — and the test for him now is to stick with those young
players. If they yo-yo between the senior squad and under-21s then it will
be unsatisfactory.

There is a big ‘if’ of course in this evolution. England head Group H, a point
in front of Ukraine and Montenegro, who have San Marino and Moldova,
respectively, among their final two opponents so will already bank on three
more points each. England host Montenegro and Poland and hope to achieve
what they have not done so far: gain back-to-back victories. Little wonder
it was Hodgson who raised the prospect of a play-off to reach Brazil.

‘Not losing’ football — and Hodgson still has not lost a competitive game for
England except in a penalty shoot-out — has to be transformed into ‘winning’
football, while there is also a greater debate about whether the nation
actually has the footballers to succeed at the top level.

On Friday it was announced that England
were now 17th in the Fifa rankings — a low last reached 12 years ago, when
Kevin Keegan was resigning in the Wembley toilets.

For Hodgson it is in the balance. He has declared his faith in the way he has
managed England through this campaign and, soon enough, will come the moment
of truth.

“Sometimes I come off after games, I step off the pitch and think ‘that was
good’ and then go into a press conference and realise that was awful,” was
his sarcastic response on confronting the media in Kyiv.

If he fails to get England to Brazil, he will not have heard anything yet.