Result some comfort for McCarthy

Realistically it was to be expected that for us the qualifying process would go on beyond Saturday's last round of group matches and everything that happened at the weekend will be more or less forgotten when this afternoon's draw is made. Nevertheless Mick McCarthy will take some comfort from the fact that his team managed a draw in this game especially in view of the fact that the Romanians played pretty much their best side while he had to content himself, for various reasons, with a very unfamiliar line up.

There is also talk of us now having gone five matches unbeaten which has a very encouraging ring about it. The reality, however, is that on Saturday the visitors had the look of a team that could have raised their game by a gear or two if they had had to while little attention is given to the quality of the opposition in the previous four games.

Looking back on the group there is not too much to inspire confidence about the future - long or short term. Romania were the best team by quite some way while we made heavy going out of finishing second by repeatedly failing to beat what were, at very best, pretty average sides.

The recent form of Tony Cascarino has been highly pleasing while Ray Houghton showed once again in this match that he is, for his passing and perception, one of the most important figures in the camp.

Yet both are showing signs of their age with Houghton seeming to find it increasingly difficult to contribute positively over the 90 minutes of a game and the big striker lacks virtually any speed at all now.

McCarthy may look towards the return of players like Andy Townsend, Steve Staunton and Denis Irwin to improve matters but we are desperately short of the quality that players like Adrian Ilie and Georghe Hagi, among others, displayed for the Romanians.

And the problem is that the Romanians are merely good, not by any means great, there are plenty more out there with the ability to handle our approach to the game.

That approach is still based around a capacity to contain opposition. This we still do reasonably well but winning matches, particularly ones in which we have fallen behind, is becoming an ever greater problem and is one which must be overcome before we can expect to make any genuinely serious progress.

For the moment all we can do is hope that this afternoon's play-off draw is relatively kind to us but there is no doubt that, whoever's name is pulled out of the hat alongside us, we are going to have to play better than we did in any of the group matches if we are to stand a serious chance of being in France next summer.

England, on the other hand, are already there and after being presented with the chance to qualify by Italy's slip up in Georgia they certainly did enough in Rome on Saturday night to dispel any claims that they had merely progressed due to the failings of others.

Glenn Hoddle rather than his opposite number, Cesare Maldini, got it right tactically and the men he picked just about all turned in strong performances to earn a draw that was well deserved.

If Maldini's decision to play Gianfranco Zola deep with Christian Vieri and Filippo Inzaghi was the wrong one then the Italian boss was still let down by the way so many of his stars reacted to the occasion.

The injury that deprived the team of the manager's inspirational son after half an hour could hardly have been helped but the home side's approach work around the box was deplorable while the nature of the tackling must have given the visitors a feeling that their opponents were living in fear.

That so many high balls were directed towards Vieri and cleared by Tony Adams was a clear signal that something was amiss and to conclude, as Maldini did, that a way to improve the situation was to pull off Zola, a player who had he been pushed into the English box might well have unnerved Hoddle's defence, was somewhat baffling.

Italy were hindered too by the absence of players like Ciro Ferrara and Roberto Di Matteo but they do at least have another chance and we had better hope that it does not end up involving a trip to Dublin.

For all Italy's problems, however, it has to be said that England simply played very well on the night. Hoddle seemed to get exactly what he wanted from his men and even Paul Gascoigne turned a far more disciplined performance than either most locals fans or those who followed the English team to Rome will remember him producing before.

The visitors denied their hosts any space in which to work and toiled endlessly to ensure that every gap was plugged. It was particularly remarkable that when Paul Ince went off to the be treated for his head wound that it was virtually impossible to tell that his side was short a man.

At the end of the game either side could have nicked in to get a goal but for anyone to take three points would have been an injustice.

Of course one of the consequences of this result for Glenn Hoddle is that expectations will now soar and that is something that he will have to address. In Wembley his side was made to look second rate and he didn't let it get him down, now he must cope with his success without becoming its victim.

(In an interview with Emmet Malone)