England vs. Belgium: 6 Things We Learned About England's Euro 2012 Prospects

England's new manager, Roy Hodgson, will have taken plenty of positives and learnt plenty more about his new charges after a second successive 1-0 victory since he took charge of the national side as England defeated Belgium at Wembley.

It was a largely different side to the one which started the friendly against Norway a week ago, with the entire first-choice back five and goalkeeper returning for starters, but ultimately it was the same outcome for England as they got themselves ahead and then defended resolutely.

Danny Welbeck scored the winning goal, his first for the England national team, 10 minutes before half time.

Here are six things England learned about their Euro 2012 prospects in their final warm-up match before the tournament starts.

England scored that crucial first goal against Norway and then proceeded to defend their lead for much of the second half—and it was a similar story against Belgium.

After Welbeck's goal, England certainly did more defending than attacking and they were, to be fair, well-organised, drilled and resolute.

With the back four fairly narrow and stationed on the edge of the penalty box, the four in front of them are asked to get through an awful lot of work to keep the opposition at bay.

However, Joe Hart made the saves when he needed to, the defenders made the blocks when required, and the two central midfielders made countless interceptions and tackles to keep Belgium at bay.

Good practice for when they take on France, you feel.

Two clean sheets in two games—Hodgson will be justifiably pleased.

England managed a paltry one shot on target against Belgium—but it came from Danny Welbeck, and it ended up in the back of the net.

Result.

Welbeck is different to the other three forwards in England's squad in that he works the channels very well, has good pace and is comfortable shooting with either foot.

He can also make space for himself with a good turn and is not afraid to look for the quick, close-quarters one-two inside the penalty area.

His shooting does too often let him down, something which may be eradicated with time, but he now heads to the Euros with an international goal behind him, something which will do him the world of good.

Expect Andy Carroll to start against France up front for England to try and hold up the ball with his more powerful physique, but don't bet against Welbeck gate-crashing the starting 11 in the next match against Sweden when England might see more of the ball.

At any rate, he is an option from the bench when England need pace and the chance of a goal up front.

With the safety-first approach that Roy Hodgson has England taking into the Euros, make no mistake about it, Steven Gerrard and Scott Parker are the most important players left in the squad.

England will look to sit deep, soak up pressure and frustrate opponents with bodies in the way, forcing the other team to shift the ball left and right, and back again.

Parker and Gerrard in the middle need to be the orchestrators of this, shifting across and dragging their wide men with them, to protect the defence and keep dangerous playmakers at bay.

When on the counterattack, Gerrard is more likely to be the one getting involved further up the pitch, but he will not make frequent bombing-forward runs unless England are getting desperate.

The problem England now have is that, with both Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry ruled out through injury, there is nobody experienced to replace either of the remaining duo.

Phil Jagielka is old enough but hardly experienced at international level, and even what he does have is in defence.

Jordan Henderson has a couple of cameos in midfield, but nothing more and nothing on the scale of a European Championships.

Hodgson is relying on Parker and Gerrard coming through all three group games unscathed and in form.

If things don't go well with Hodgson's preferred plan of, erm, "attack," then what will be his response to falling a goal behind?

Two 1-0 wins might make good reading but Hodgson might have gotten more out of falling behind in one of the games, before it inevitably happens at some point in the Euros.

Will his plan be to put Jermaine Defoe on up front in a genuine two-pronged attack, and hope for the luck of the ball?

Will Andy Carroll be deposited centrally and high up, and let all the balls aim for him in true English Route 1 fashion?

The lads might as well check their return tickets are valid now, if so.

England need a more caution-to-the-wind, aggressive final-third nature to come from behind in this tournament.

Plenty of teams are going to be well-oiled machines, difficult to break down and, like England, banking on a stern defensive record to progress.

To avoid being merely one of the numbers, England and Roy Hodgson need to come up with something more impressive than just throwing on a sub and hoping for the best.

James Milner, Ashley Young, Stewart Downing, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: five wide players competing for two spots.

Or so we thought; Young seems to have nailed down the second-striker role—at least in the absence of Wayne Rooney—so it's down to two from four.

Downing and Milner started against Norway, both had their moments but neither impressed over a sustained period.

Milner and Oxlade-Chamberlain came in against Belgium and it was much the same; a few moments of promise in the final third largely outweighed by the sheer volume of defensive running they had to get through.

Walcott has also featured in both games.

It really is take your pick from those four as to who gets the nod.

As England's first game is against France, you would bet on the more defensively aware James Milner getting a start on the right, while Downing's experience may push him ahead of the more speedy Arsenal duo, at least one of which will surely get a call off the bench at some point.

After already losing John Ruddy, Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard to injury since naming his original squad, Roy Hodgson is now facing a double worry in defence.

First choice centre-backs Gary Cahill and John Terry both require scans following the Belgium match, with their participation in Euro 2012 hanging on the outcome of those.

Cahill was pushed into 'keeper Joe Hart by Dries Mertens, who was booked for dangerous play, as he shielded the ball back.

A fractured jaw is the worry for England here, though they hope the scan will reveal only bruising.

Terry, meanwhile, requires a scan on a hamstring injury. Again, the England camp will hope for good news and that Terry can recover fully in the next week—or else an embarrassing call to Rio Ferdinand might have to be on the cards.

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