England still in need of tactical tweaks ahead of Euro 2016

England's so-called Golden Generation fell flat under Sven-Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and, lastly, Steve McClaren as each manager tried to cram the most talented players into the XI - whether they worked as a collective or not.

Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard were often fielded alongside one another in the middle of the park, repeatedly shoehorned into a 4-4-2 formation and expected to do the same jobs they did for Chelsea and Liverpool, respectively - which was pretty much the same thing. It left the back four exposed while Lampard and Gerrard unsuccessfully tried to share attacking duties in midfield.

Now Roy Hodgson is in danger of following the same ill-fated route with his own talented throng at Euro 2016, but he's given himself the tougher task of trying to scratch his legacy into a cramped midfield diamond.

Thursday's 1-0 snorefest over Portugal was a glimpse into what conclusions the veteran gaffer had reached over the qualification campaign, friendlies over March, and recent tests against Turkey and Australia. It wasn't an occasion to fill those packed in The Red Lions and Wheatsheafs of England with much confidence ahead of the summer tournament.

As expected, captain Wayne Rooney was deployed behind the front pairing of Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane, with Eric Dier anchoring the midfield diamond. James Milner and Dele Alli were played somewhere in between - that's about as well versed they appeared to be in their roles - and it made for an untidy and clumped quartet at Wembley's dress rehearsal.

Hodgson's attack often resembled a front three, Rooney effectively playing as a forward and unceremoniously shunting Vardy and Kane out wide, considerably nullifying their threat. The duo has 49 Premier League goals between them in 2015-16, but at international level, Vardy especially has been played out of position, this time clearly to accommodate Rooney - who mustered eight top-flight tallies.

To play two confident strikers so far apart is criminal, and then to reduce their roles to creators rather than goalscorers even worse. Vardy and Kane were both withdrawn after a collective 144 minutes that yielded just one solitary skipping, tame dig from the latter.

The insistence in fielding Rooney also left the role of Alli steeped in confusion. The PFA Young Player of the Year who was so devastating in his breakout campaign with Tottenham Hotspur, breaking through back fours and expertly providing runs to act as a decoy or give lone forward Kane options. Here he was simply too deep, not given a license to showcase his lung-bursting box-to-box game and instead left caged in a midfield that was unable to find and create space. He wasn't a winger, nor was he an all-rounder in the middle.

For a squad that boasts so much pace, youthful exuberance and attacking options, it was a turgid display that leaves Hodgson with two big decisions to mull over before his side's opener against Russia on June 11: Is the midfield diamond working and, perhaps most importantly, is Rooney so important that he merits being crowbarred into the starting XI?