Roy Hodgson was satisfied with England's display against Portugal, but captain Wayne Rooney knows better performances are needed if Euro 2016 is to be a success.
Having come through hard-fought 2-1 wins against Turkey and Australia, the Three Lions welcomed the side ranked eighth in the world as they wrapped up their preparations for France.
Chris Smalling's late header secured a 1-0 victory to the delight of the sell-out Wembley crowd, but the performance left more questions than answers having stuttered against a side reduced to 10 men after a ludicrously high 36th-minute challenge by Bruno Alves.
It was an underwhelming display and the toothless attack was particularly concerning, with Hodgson unable to effectively shoehorn the triumvirate of Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy into the same line-up.
"Three very different games," the England boss said afterwards. "I was disappointed tonight that it didn't stay 11 v 11.
"We'd have preferred that. It became an exercise in breaking a packed defence today.
"We got better at it but I was pleased with the composure, playing out consistently from the back - better than the two previous games - and the players showed patience.
"The pressurising wasn't quite as frantic as it's sometimes been. We have to keep that good part of the pressurising with some composed defending and a good, compact shape.
"There were some good individual performances and it's good to go to a tournament having won three on the spin."
Hodgson rightly pointed out "you never suffer from winning matches" but accepts there is still work to do - comments echoed by his skipper.
"We won the game but it was always difficult for us when Portugal went down to 10 men,'' Rooney told ITV Sport.
"They made it difficult but we kept going and we got the win so that was obviously important to us.
"We know in these games there have been a lot of changes. We haven't been at our best, but we have won the three games which is important especially as a young team.
"We are winning games when we are not playing well. We have to improve and in tournament football you have to improve to win games."
Rooney was coy when asked about how he felt things went in attack, playing alongside Vardy and Kane for the first time.
Hodgson was not prepared to add his "voice to the debate" after the match but attempted to explain the thought process.
"We played with split strikers," Hodgson said. "When you play with that system, you need your strikers to split.
"If you play with them going down the middle and Rooney in behind them, you would never be able to defend the wide areas.
"There were moments in the game where they were too wide, but basically speaking their job is to split and come together."
Portugal were solid if unspectacular at Wembley, where they not only had to deal with a red card but the absence of star turn Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Real Madrid attacker was given time off following the Champions League final and his cutting edge was missed.
"For sure Cristiano is important for us," Portugal boss Fernando Santos said. "He's a different player to Rafa - he is quicker and has more strength.
"I have a good squad, especially in attack. But today was a different match because it was a friendly and we were playing with 10 men.
"It's always difficult with 10 men, especially against England in this atmosphere. But we're in our preparation and we hope to be better in France."
Source: PA
