England coach Roy Hodgson feels Manchester United attacker Ashley Young can cover the absence of Wayne Rooney.

Young has impressed in his role behind the centre-forward.

He said: "At international level, it's important to make sure you get your players playing where they feel they can do most damage and not part of a system where they're just doing a job that doesn't suit them or their qualities.

"Ashley Young has got in good positions, as we wanted him to do. We feel that, like with Wayne Rooney, Ashley is at his best when he gets behind the midfield and in front of the back players.

"If we have another centre-forward to accept the ball, then Ashley can pick the ball off them there.

"In the games we've not used the opportunities when we've won the ball back as well as we could've done.

"The shape of the team is about having a reasonable amount of control. The more of that you have, the more you can find ways of hurting the opposition and get Ashley or Wayne in behind them."