England manager Roy Hodgson heaped praise on his substitutes Ross Barkley and Andros Townsend after they helped to revive his side to a spirited second half performance that earned a 1-1 draw against Italy in Turin.
Hodgson admitted he was less than content with his side's efforts in the opening 45 minutes, but a second half strike from Tottenham winger Townsend ensured England stayed unbeaten since their disappointing early exit at last summer's World Cup finals.
His captain Wayne Rooney suggested Michael Carrick was the key to England's revival against Italy, but Hodgson was eager to praise two of his other substitutes when he spoke to ITV Sport.
"Both Barkley and Townsend really turned the game," Hodgson stated. "I thought Barkley, in particular was really, really good. Very brave, very courageous, prepared to get on the ball all the time, prepared to take people on.
"He really is an outstanding young talent and it has been great that we had him for these two games, giving him 20 minutes in the first game [against Lithuania last Friday] and almost a half here.
"I also have to say a word for Andros. That is the second time he has come on when we needed someone to do something special and he has come up with the goods.
"It is no mean feat to come to Italy and get a result, especially to take the game to them like we did in the second half. We are indebted to Andros. We had chances before his goal, but it was his strike that got us the draw."
Hodgson was happy to see Townsend make a telling contribution in what has turned out to be a difficult season for the player.
"I stuck by him because of the qualities he brings," Hodgson said of Townsend, who lost form last year and started just two Premier League games before January. "He's got that ability, Andros, to get turned around very quickly and run at enormous pace with skill at defenders and that's something defenders don't like.
"We've always appreciated that quality he has. In a squad of 20-odd players, there should be a place for guys like him because he's a game changer. You could say the same about Ross Barkley."
Hodgson was clearly dissatisfied with England's first-half efforts in Turin, with his decision to throw Everton youngster Barkley on in place of Theo Walcott after just 55 minutes evidence that he was not impressed with the Arsenal man's display.
Yet it seems Walcott was not alone in his below-par efforts in Hodgson's opinion. "I don't think anything we did was good enough in the first half and I haven't forgotten that period," he stated.
"We were lucky that they were pretty tame as well and I don't think anything in the first half pleased us. Nothing we did in the first half is what we want to see, but by contrast a lot of what we saw in the second half is what we want to see.
"I thought the atmosphere at the game was dead and both teams were guilty of falling into a practice match atmosphere, so at half-time, we were not very satisfied.
"We are setting high standards now and we matched those in the second half and if any team was going to win the game in the end, it was us.
"In the second half, we had really good control of the game, created chances and played well.
"It keeps the momentum going. I think that is nine games unbeaten with seven wins and two draws and I think that is an important thing for us to do. We could have drifted to a defeat tonight and that could have knocked us back a little bit. We can hold our heads up high."
Hodgson also praised Harry Kane for the performance he put in on his first start against an experienced Italian defence.
The 21-year-old failed to have an impact in the first half, but improved as the match went on, particularly when he played alongside Rooney, rather than Walcott.
"I thought Harry Kane did very well," Hodgson said. "It wasn't an easy game, playing against three very experienced, tough defenders. He got helped a bit more when Wayne went up front, but I'm more than satisfied personally with his performance.
"It's been a good 10 days for him. He's scored on debut and played 90 minutes of a tough game. He'll gain a lot of benefit from that."
Kane and Rooney had chances to steal the win for England in the dying minutes as the visitors ended on top, but Hodgson will be happy to return home knowing his unbeaten run now stretches to nine matches. There were few things for the England boss to be happy about in the first half though.
"To say I was more happy with the second half than the first would be the understatement of the year," the England manager said.
"We fell well below the standards we've been setting and the whole game was very much a friendly atmosphere. But the second half was much closer to what we're trying to do and Ross and Andros can take a lot of credit for us injecting so much more tempo and pace into our game."
England lacked width, invention and a killer punch up front. Further back, Hodgson's decision to field Phil Jones as a holding midfielder looked to be a poor one. The Manchester United man appeared uncomfortable there and he allowed Giorgio Chiellini to brush past him and set Graziano Pelle up for Italy's opener.
Hodgson defended the 23-year-old after the match, but admitted England looked far more comfortable when Jones moved to centre-half and Michael Carrick was deployed at the bottom of the midfield diamond after replacing the ill Chris Smalling.
"In that first half we experimented with Phil in the centre of midfield because we feel that, in a destroyer-type role, that could be useful on occasion in the future," Hodgson said. "I didn't think Phil played badly in that position. But with the way we like to play, it was much better when Michael came on.
"I don't want to criticise any players. I don't think we should write it off as an experiment which didn't work. He didn't do badly at all."