London (AFP)

Having scored 33 goals in seven qualifying matches, England crunched modest Montenegro on Thursday (7-0) and clinched their ticket for Euro-2020, but doubts remain about the defense of the "Three Lions" who will have to to prove that they also know how to get the claws out.

Thursday night, Gareth Southgate's team needed only one point against the Montenegrins to score his ticket for the finals.

But to honor the 1000th match of the selection - first national team to reach this mark -, the English spent seven to the red lantern of the group ... After having already put six to Bulgaria at home, five to Montenegro to Podgorica, five to the Czechs in Wembley and as much to the Kosovars in Southampton ...

With 34 goals scored since early 2019, the English have already had their most prolific year since 1982. But in this year's World Cup, they had 15 matches to reach this total, against nine since the 1st January.

And it would be surprising that this figure does not swell yet Sunday in Pristina Sunday, facing a Kosovo third of the group and already out of race in these qualifiers (but qualified for the dams).

- Kane / Sterling, formidable duo -

The pair of Harry Kane - 11 goals in 7 games, including a hat-trick against Montenegro - and Raheem Sterling (8 goals in 6 games) has been incredibly effective.

Tottenham scorers and the wisp of Manchester City are very complementary and with Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Dortmund), or the two strikers Chelsea Tammy Abraham and Callum Hudson-Odoi, England is extremely well supplied in this sector.

However, if the selection wants to tread the lawn of Wembley on July 12th, date of the final at home and declared goal of England, it will not be necessary especially to deceive itself on the level of the opposition which it had to to face so far, neither on its limits.

The midfield remains largely perfectible, especially in his creativity, although the recent arrival in selection of Mason Mount (Chelsea), just 20, or James Maddison, the master of Leicester play, Liverpool's current runner-up, offers tracks.

On the other hand, the match in the Czech Republic, in their only defeat of these qualifiers (2-1) or even the reception of Kosovo (5-3), have again dramatically displayed the limits of the defense, even in the face of very average teams.

- Who with Maguire in the axis? -

Among the few certainties in this line, there is Trent Alexander-Arnold, indisputable on the right flank, even if the game of the national team lends itself less well to his flights than that of Liverpool.

And in the axis, Harry Maguire seems pretty much the pillar around which to build the axis, but no player seems to impose itself as a complement, John Stones has not progressed as hoped, while Fikayo Tomori still lacks (21 years) of experience.

The other choices would come from second-tier clubs, be it Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Michael Keane (Everton), or even Lewis Dunk (Brighton) or James Tarkowski (Burnley), who have already gravitated around the selection.

As for the goalkeeper, despite Everton's disappointing season (15th), England seems doomed to remain loyal to Jordan Pickford, more a default choice than conviction.

The preparation matches that will be announced must imperatively serve to solve these problems against opponents much more consistent than during the playoffs, on pain of seeing the English fall from their little cloud.

© 2019 AFP