England's defence has been a cause for concern of late, and the fact Roy Hodgson has elected to take just three centre halves to Euro 2016 has set alarm bells ringing.

There wasn’t too much to trouble the back four after Bruno Alves’s first-half red card, but I certainly saw an improvement on some of their recent performances before the sending-off.

FLYING FULL BACKS

I was really impressed with full backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose against Portugal. In fact, they look like our best two players at the moment.

Walker looks like he’s really cementing his place in the starting XI, despite stiff competition from Liverpool’s Nathaniel Clyne. He put in some good crosses, and also had a decent shot on goal.

It seemed like Hodgson gave the team more licence to attack in the second half, and Walker was rampant going forward at times.

Danny Rose gave a good account of himself at left-back in England's final Euro 2016 warm-up match

Kyle Walker shone at right-back as England kept a clean-sheet against Portugal at Wembley on Thursday night

Walker displaced Liverpool full-back Nathaniel Clyne from the starting eleven at Wembley

Though, I would suggest he doesn’t have to be quite so frantic in the future — particularly against opposition with 11 men!

While Walker contributed more going forward, Rose defended excellently.

The left back dealt with a couple of testing, low crosses with minimal fuss and he pressed very well when England were out of possession.

GET SMALLING RIGHT

There is a question mark over which centre back should play on the right and I think it should be Chris Smalling. Both Smalling and Gary Cahill play there for their clubs and if you are right-footed you always want to be on that side.

Smalling is more comfortable in possession on the right, but has been lining up on the left recently and did so here. I would think that Hodgson would choose to play the more junior defender where he is more comfortable, giving him the biggest opportunity to succeed at international level.

Chris Smalling headed home the winning goal from a Raheem Sterling cross late in the game

Gary Cahill tackles Portugal's Andre Gomes during the 1-0 friendly win on Thursday night

ENGLAND EURO 2016 FIXTURES Saturday, June 11: England v Russia (20:00, Stade Velodrome, Marseille) Thursday, June 16: England v Wales (14:00, Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens) Monday, June 20: Slovakia v England (20:00, Stade Geoffroy Guichard, St Etienne) Advertisement

Cahill is senior enough to adapt and should give the younger man his preferred berth in France. This is how the pair lined up against Germany in Berlin back in March when England beat the world champions.

It’s difficult to judge from this game whether the partnership is thriving as they had little to do after the Alves red card.

Smalling’s goal will really boost his confidence going into his first tournament as a first-choice centre half — it’ll help him grow into the role.

Now it’s up to the pair of them to prove the doubters wrong on the big stage.

POOR MARKING

England failed to keep a clean sheet in their first two warm-up matches and often struggled to deal with attackers getting in between the full back and the centre half.

In the first match, Turkey equalised after a ball was played in behind left back Danny Rose and John Stones.

John Stones (left) played in both England's warm-up games as they failed to keep a clean-sheet

When the ball came across the box neither Stones nor Cahill were marking properly and it was all too easy for Turkey to score.

At Wembley, though England’s centre backs were rarely tested, there were a couple of occasions early on when Smalling’s indecision worried me. When passes were played over the top of the defence, he would sometimes wait to see what type of ball it was, rather than worrying about what the striker was doing.

If you can’t read the delivery immediately, you should react to the attacker’s run and make sure you get goalside.

MIDFIELD PROTECTION

I was concerned that, with no Danny Drinkwater in the squad, there would be no one to help Eric Dier protect the back four in this tournament.

But James Milner stepped into that role and he and Dier proved a very effective shield.

Danny Drinkwater was dropped from the final 23 by Roy Hodgson when he named his squad on Tuesady

Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier formed an effective partnership with James MIlner in midfield

There were times when both sat back in front of Smalling and Cahill which, while an effective defensive ploy, really limited England going forward.