Roy Hodgson has suggested England may be forced into playing “like Norway” in Monday’s awkward Euro 2016 qualifier against Switzerland, with the national manager and his captain, Wayne Rooney, admitting the team must perform better if they are to prevail in Basel.

The Manchester United striker scored his 41st goal for his country, a second-half penalty, to defeat a stubborn Norway team and hoist himself above Michael Owen into outright fourth place on the all-time England scorers’ list. He did so in front of the lowest crowd for an England match at Wembley, 40,181, since it was re-opened in 2007. The hosts dominated possession but laboured for long periods despite securing a first win in six matches, with Rooney conceding they “all could have done better”.

Hodgson was prickly through his post-match media duties and was particularly infuriated when it was pointed out his team had mustered only two shots on target: the penalty and a shot from the substitute Danny Welbeck, which was saved by Orjan Haskjold Nyland. “Don’t give me that one,” he said. “Two shots on target? What about all the ones they threw themselves in front of, or the near misses? Don’t hit me with statistics. When we had that much possession, and you talk about two shots on target? We’re not scoring a lot of goals at the moment but we’re not playing against teams who come out against us a lot.

“This team will score goals. They’ll score goals. Rooney will score goals. Welbeck will score goals. [Daniel] Sturridge will score goals. [Raheem] Sterling will score goals. Switzerland will need to beat us. If anything, we might be Norway on Monday. We might be pushed back and won’t be able to attack and dominate for long periods, as we did tonight. I don’t know. But it might be the case. I don’t think the mindset of the Swiss team, playing us in Basel, will be the same as the mindset of the Norwegians today.”

Yet, while patience will be required with his inexperienced lineup, there remain serious doubts over the partnership between Rooney and Sturridge. The latter arguably appeared more comfortable playing alongside Welbeck and with the excellent Sterling switched to a central No10 role over the latter stages. The new captain’s performance was rather peripheral, reflecting his form for his club, with England struggling for long periods to offer much encouragement to those who had attended the friendly fixture.

“In the first half we moved the ball quite well,” said Rooney, who converted the penalty awarded when Omar Elabdellaoui tripped Sterling. “The second half we started really sloppily, which was disappointing, but we got the win in the end. The young players in the team will learn. We’re all still learning. Raheem Sterling is a threat, he gets at players. It doesn’t always come off but he’s an exciting player to watch. We all could have done better, but it’s a night where it was important to win.”

Hodgson, asked about his captain’s display and whether he may consider playing Welbeck alongside Sturridge instead in Basel, said: “The fact is it was a big night for Wayne, with a lot of responsibility weighing on his shoulders, not least with the penalty, which he knew he had to score to secure the win. It’s early days. If every time we play I’ve either got to praise a player to the skies or criticise a player and say a partnership is not going to work, that’s a bit harsh. Wayne will tell you he can play better than that. Of course he can. We know what kind of player he is. But you’re not always going to give the best performance and you don’t become a bad player if you don’t put in the performance you wanted.

“I thought the performance was quite good. I was pleased with the first half, when we probed well and had good movement. I was disappointed with the start of the second half when we didn’t do anything like as well for the first 15 minutes, but then we changed things, changed the formation slightly, and finished the game strongly. Yes, I was happy with Danny Welbeck and he was very lively when he came on. And when Sterling moved into the centre he showed the full range of his dribbling ability, so it’s nice to know we have these options and won’t be totally restricted to one way of playing.”

Hodgson is confident Gary Cahill, who was substituted near the end and applied ice to an ankle, will be fit for the game against Switzerland – ranked ninth in the world to England’s 20th and Norway’s 53rd – with John Stones, on his first start, having suffered cramp late on. England will be without Jack Colback, however, after the Newcastle midfielder failed to recover from a calf problem and returned to Tyneside for treatment.

“We’ll find it hard to bring attendances back to a very high level because of the opponents we’re playing in qualifying – they won’t be exciting the public,” said Hodgson, with games against San Marino, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania and the Swiss ahead. “They’re not the kind of teams who normally attract full houses. But if my team works as hard as they did tonight, show the appetite and desire, the aggression in the defending, the exciting moves that were there for all to see, then the crowd aren’t foolish.

“They know what they’re seeing. They’ll come back to see Sterling, Sturridge and [Jack] Wilshere. These players have the potential to lead us forward and excite football crowds. Although I risk being in a group of one, I have been watching football for a long time and nothing you say will change what I see.”