England 5 Andorra 0
Steve McClaren is making things look easy, with his first two games in charge yielding two wins and nine goals.
Clearly there are far tougher tests ahead for the new boss - but his team followed up the 4-0 defeat of Greece by going one better against an awful Andorra team at Old Trafford.
And, as his sports psychologist would say, you can only beat what is in front of you.
Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch scored two goals each and Steven Gerrard blasted the other as McClaren's team started their European Championship qualifying campaign with a bang.
It is six years since England really spanked one of Europe's minnows in a qualification game - with Luxembourg losing 6-0 win at Wembley under Kevin Keegan.
Sven-Goran Eriksson's philosophy seemed to be that 2-0 was as good as five or six but McClaren claims to be different and, to be fair, Andorra deserved a good hiding.
They came to defend but were a goal down after five minutes.
When they tried to bolster their defence to avoid embarrassment, England showed no mercy.
There were even glimpses of the dirty tricks McClaren had warned his players about before the game.
The Andorrans over-reacted to the slightest touch and their tackling became nastier as the game wore on - but England survived without serious injuries or red cards.
Once Crouch had struck, early in the game, it was downhill all the way for the little nation of 70,000 best known as a ski resort on the border of France and Spain.
Defoe received the ball with his back to goal, turned a tucked a neat pass into the path of Ashley Cole.
The left-back's first touch poked the ball to Crouch and he supplied a measured left-foot finish.
Andorra were reeling from England's high-tempo opening.
Defoe dragged a great chance wide, Frank Lampard forced a save from Jesus Luis Alvarez and John Terry smashed over from close-range.
That was all inside the first ten minutes and there were 13 on the clock when Gerrard made it 2-0 with an unstoppable drive.
Cole charged down the left again and this time was found by his new Chelsea team-mate Frank Lampard.
The full-back clipped a cross to the back-post where it was missed by Javier Sanchez, leaving Gerrard to control it on his chest and rifle it into the top corner.
Andorra went into damage-limitation mode, dropping everyone back behind the ball.
England may have faced two banks of four on previous occasions but here they had to break down two banks of five.
The visitors left no-one up front and sometimes just hoofed the ball into the empty spaces behind the England back-four for Terry or Wes Brown to retrieve.
Owen Hargreaves snapped around in midfield winning the ball on the odd occasions when Andorra managed a touch.
Hargreaves also came within inches of his first England goal, rattling the woodwork once in each half.
Gerrard, who terrorised Sanchez throughout the first half, skipped past the defender again to set up the third.
He dashed down the England right and his cross was met with a left-foot volley from Defoe.
Andorra boss took pity on Sanchez at half-time and replaced him with his namesake Julia Sanchez.
It was a first England goal in nearly two years for Defoe.
He was denied a second by a reflex save from Alvarez before the break but made it 4-0 at the start of the second half.
Defoe crept in behind the Andorra centre-halves when they failed to clear a long looping header from Phil Neville and, this time, he gave the keeper no chance.
Hargreaves rattled the post again with a right foot drive from distance.
McClaren sent on subs Aaron Lennon and Kieran Richardson and used the last 25 minutes to experiment with three at the back - Cole, Terry and Brown.
Straight away Crouch made it five, finishing a Lennon cross with a good header.
It was his 10th in his last 10 England games, 10 in 13 overall, and he has developed a habit of cashing in against the minnows.
The Liverpool hitman scored a hat-trick against Jamaica before the World Cup and broke the deadlock against Trinidad and Tobago in Germany.
Andrew Johnson came on for Defoe and set-up a hat-trick chance for Crouch, 10 minutes from time, but he slid it wide.
The only disappointment for McClaren will have been an unnecessary booking for Brown, for a high challenge on Oscar Sonejee in the last minute of the first half.
Clearly there are far tougher tests ahead for the new boss - but his team followed up the 4-0 defeat of Greece by going one better against an awful Andorra team at Old Trafford.
And, as his sports psychologist would say, you can only beat what is in front of you.
Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch scored two goals each and Steven Gerrard blasted the other as McClaren's team started their European Championship qualifying campaign with a bang.
It is six years since England really spanked one of Europe's minnows in a qualification game - with Luxembourg losing 6-0 win at Wembley under Kevin Keegan.
Sven-Goran Eriksson's philosophy seemed to be that 2-0 was as good as five or six but McClaren claims to be different and, to be fair, Andorra deserved a good hiding.
They came to defend but were a goal down after five minutes.
When they tried to bolster their defence to avoid embarrassment, England showed no mercy.
There were even glimpses of the dirty tricks McClaren had warned his players about before the game.
The Andorrans over-reacted to the slightest touch and their tackling became nastier as the game wore on - but England survived without serious injuries or red cards.
Once Crouch had struck, early in the game, it was downhill all the way for the little nation of 70,000 best known as a ski resort on the border of France and Spain.
Defoe received the ball with his back to goal, turned a tucked a neat pass into the path of Ashley Cole.
The left-back's first touch poked the ball to Crouch and he supplied a measured left-foot finish.
Andorra were reeling from England's high-tempo opening.
Defoe dragged a great chance wide, Frank Lampard forced a save from Jesus Luis Alvarez and John Terry smashed over from close-range.
That was all inside the first ten minutes and there were 13 on the clock when Gerrard made it 2-0 with an unstoppable drive.
Cole charged down the left again and this time was found by his new Chelsea team-mate Frank Lampard.
The full-back clipped a cross to the back-post where it was missed by Javier Sanchez, leaving Gerrard to control it on his chest and rifle it into the top corner.
Andorra went into damage-limitation mode, dropping everyone back behind the ball.
England may have faced two banks of four on previous occasions but here they had to break down two banks of five.
The visitors left no-one up front and sometimes just hoofed the ball into the empty spaces behind the England back-four for Terry or Wes Brown to retrieve.
Owen Hargreaves snapped around in midfield winning the ball on the odd occasions when Andorra managed a touch.
Hargreaves also came within inches of his first England goal, rattling the woodwork once in each half.
Gerrard, who terrorised Sanchez throughout the first half, skipped past the defender again to set up the third.
He dashed down the England right and his cross was met with a left-foot volley from Defoe.
Andorra boss took pity on Sanchez at half-time and replaced him with his namesake Julia Sanchez.
It was a first England goal in nearly two years for Defoe.
He was denied a second by a reflex save from Alvarez before the break but made it 4-0 at the start of the second half.
Defoe crept in behind the Andorra centre-halves when they failed to clear a long looping header from Phil Neville and, this time, he gave the keeper no chance.
Hargreaves rattled the post again with a right foot drive from distance.
McClaren sent on subs Aaron Lennon and Kieran Richardson and used the last 25 minutes to experiment with three at the back - Cole, Terry and Brown.
Straight away Crouch made it five, finishing a Lennon cross with a good header.
It was his 10th in his last 10 England games, 10 in 13 overall, and he has developed a habit of cashing in against the minnows.
The Liverpool hitman scored a hat-trick against Jamaica before the World Cup and broke the deadlock against Trinidad and Tobago in Germany.
Andrew Johnson came on for Defoe and set-up a hat-trick chance for Crouch, 10 minutes from time, but he slid it wide.
The only disappointment for McClaren will have been an unnecessary booking for Brown, for a high challenge on Oscar Sonejee in the last minute of the first half.
posted by dgarden at 8:41 am
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