Record-breaking Rooney masks Hodgson´s England concerns

Roy Hodgson paid tribute to Wayne Rooney for becoming England’s leading goalscorer, but warned of the need for an all-round improvement from his side.

Rooney moved a goal ahead of Bobby Charlton to 50 for England with a penalty in Tuesday’s 2-0 Euro 2016 qualifying win over Switzerland, after Harry Kane had opened the scoring.

Whether Rooney would break Charlton’s record on home soil at Wembley had dominated the pre-match discussion and Hodgson was full of praise for his captain’s exploits. 

“It’s an amazing achievement, we’ve just been congratulating him in the dressing room,” the England manager told ITV.

“I’m absolutely delighted for him. Bobby Charlton was one of our greatest ever players and I’m hoping he’ll be pleased that his record has been passed because all records are there to be broken.

“I’m also hoping he’ll be pleased it’s Wayne who has done it as a fellow Manchester United man.

“The strange things about records are that you never expect them to get broken but then they do – [whether 50 goals will be broken] is not really something that concerns me or Wayne Rooney.

“It’s a proud moment for him and his family.”

England looked set to endure a frustrating night prior to Kane’s opener as a well-drilled Swiss side defended well and countered with a reasonable amount of threat.

Having seen his side maintain their 100 per cent qualification record, Hodgson added: “The most important thing we need to do is to keep improving our performances, because we’ve played an awful lot better than that in previous games.

“We were a bit fortunate to come out as 2-0 winners. The second half was better but in the first half I didn’t think we were anything like what we think we can be.

“We weren’t anywhere near the level of performances we’ve shown but luckily at half-time the players pulled themselves together and played better.

“It wasn’t an easy game and I think Switzerland will consider themselves hard done by in losing.”