England Euro 2012 Betting: Tough decisions for Hodgson

At first glance, Roy Hodgson's reign as England boss got off to the near perfect start; an away win to nil over decent opposition with only Gareth Barry coming out of the game with an injury scare.

But look a little deeper into England's 1-0 victory over Norway - the starting line-up and the performance - and a host of questions arise in advance of England's Euro 2012 campaign.

One major dilemma Hodgson has is who to start in attack when England play France in their opening Group D fixture in two weeks time. I was originally going to pose the question, who will replace Wayne Rooney? With Danny Welbeck a slight injury concern, and Jermain Defoe overlooked against Norway, the likelihood is that Andy Carroll will start in Donetsk.

That leaves Hodgson with the decision to make about who to play in support of Carroll. On Saturday night it was Ashley Young who was given that role - and he did nothing to suggest he wasn't up to it. Young played up-top alongside Carroll for much of the game, and with Hodgson generally preferring a 4-4-2 formation as a club manager, this was perhaps the way England were encouraged to play.

Young was energetic throughout, always looking like a threat on and off the ball, and of course he scored a brilliant solo effort on nine minutes - his fourth England goal in as many games. But there has to be a justified doubt as to whether he will be retained in this role against France.

We will know a lot more about Hodgson's thinking when England play Belgium next week, but there's a huge sense (on my part) that he will revert to same old same old when Frank Lampard returns to the squad. This will probably mean that the Chelsea man will start in midfield, Steven Gerrard will be pushed into the supporting role behind Carroll, and Young will move to the left-wing position in place of the ineffective and paceless Stewart Downing.

I actually like the idea of Carroll in attack alongside Rooney, Young on one wing and anyone bar James Milner on the other wing, but whether England will still be in a position to qualify from Group D when Rooney returns is something you might want to think about now.

England are 1.594/7 To Qualify from Group D; France can be backed at 1.528/15, Ukraine at 2.486/4, and Sweden are the outsiders at 3.052/1.

Hodgson's other big decision ahead of the France game will be who he plays in defence, and more to the point, who he will select to partner John Terry.

The defence that started against Norway - Leighton Baines, Joleon Lescott, Phil Jagielka and Phil Jones - could do nothing more than keep their opponents at bay, but with Jagielka not in the 23-man squad travelling to the Euros, and the Chelsea pair of Terry and Ashley Cole deserving of their place in the team, the back four we'll see in a fortnight's time could be 100% changed.

If fit, Glen Johnson will play at right-back, and that just leaves Jones, Lescott or Gary Cahill to partner Terry in the heart of England's defence.

Lescott was solid and reliable against Norway and his confidence couldn't be higher after the season he has had with Manchester City, and at this stage, he is the man I'd like to see given the nod. But there's a feeling that Hodgson prefers Terry's Chelsea teammate Cahill, a man who missed his club's final few weeks of the season because of a hamstring injury and looked far from comfortable with the same injury in last week's Champions League final.

It's a bit worrying then that a fully fit Rio Ferdinand will be sitting at home, watching Euro 2012 from his sofa given he was omitted from the squad due to injury concerns with England in the last 18 months.

If Hodgson thinks he has made an ideal start as England boss then he better brace himself for a tough month should the decisions he has to make result in a disappointing Euro 2012 campaign. We've seen it all before, and there's a feeling we're about to see it all again.