England manager Roy Hodgson has defended his players after they were criticised for beating Norway 1-0 on Wednesday night.
The Three Lions edged the Norwegians in front of a poor crowd just over 40,000 at Wembley thanks to a second-half penalty from new skipper Wayne Rooney in a match which yielded just two shots on goal for the home side.
The English press criticised Hodgson's team for creating little in attack against a lesser opponent but the boss felt that his players did their job and praised them for producing a win ahead of their opening Euro2016 qualifier against Switzerland on Monday.
"I am entitled to be unhappy when I get questions about only having two shots on target," said Hodgson in relation to his loss of temper at the after-match press conference.
"There was a lot of euphoria before the World Cup. We were getting 75,000 people to see us play Peru (in May), who, with respect, were nowhere near as difficult an opponent as Norway. And now we have 40,000."
Of his inexperienced side, Hodgson added: "Some of these players are top-class players in the making, but the players are in the making: you can't play five or six games for England and be a regular at Liverpool for six or seven months and then be David Beckham.
"You can't be Phil Jones with all the injuries he has had and nail down a place in the Manchester United first team and then become John Terry.
"You can't be Jack Wilshere, who has lost all that football through injury and then all of a sudden be Bryan Robson. Let's be fair on all of these things. That's all I am asking.
"Allow me to be excited about what they can do and allow me to stand up and say I think my team played well at a press conference when I think they have."
