England Vs Estonia will be a tough test for us ~ Rooney
England arrived in Tallinn in good spirits on Saturday ahead of their Group E Euro 2016 qualifying match against Estonia having comfortably seen off San Marino earlier in the week and cemented their place at the top of the group standings with two wins from two games.
Roy Hodgson will certainly be looking for a win against the Estonians to make it three wins in a row but the England manager played down any comparisons between San Marino and their next opponents.
Estonia are ranked 81st in the FIFA rankings and England have emerged victorious in both previous meetings between the two sides without concerning a goal.
However, Estonia have lost just twice in their last 10 home matches and managed to hold World Cup semi-finalists Netherlands to a 2-2 draw in Tallinn just over a year ago.
"San Marino are a very different kettle of fish to Estonia so certainly we are fully aware of that. Even if we are satisfied we our performance against San Marino it wouldn't in anyway lead to complacency as far as we're concerned when it comes to Estonia," warned Hodgson on Saturday.
"This is a different game and a different level of opponent - an opponent capable of causing upsets and winning games. We've got to make certain we don't allow them to do it," he continued.
Captain Wayne Rooney agreed with his manager and added, "I think it was obviously a good victory for us against San Marino but that game for us has gone - we've moved on. We're looking forward to the game tomorrow night and we know it will be a tough game. I don't think they'll be overconfidence. We'll be ready for the game and we'll know what we need to do to win it."
Rooney also argued that playing twice in four days - in line with UEFA's new schedule for European internationals and qualifiers - and travelling would not pose a problem for England.
"It's fairly new to the international stage and it means less time for training, less time for the manager to work on things he's wants to. But as a player you want to play the game so for us it's great," said Rooney.
Hodgson reflected that he was pleased with the current competition for starting places among his squad and praised Alex Oxlade-Chaberlain, Adam Lallana and Andros Townsend who all came off the bench against San Marino.
Raheem Sterling was taken to one side during the inspection and was engaged in a lengthy conversation with Hodgson away from the rest of the squad.
When asked what the conversation had been about Hodgson joked, "I suppose I could do but I'm not going to because I don't normally go around telling people what conversations I had with people! It's not unusual for me to have talks with players but of course with everyone watching of course I'm sure they'll be speculation. I'll allow the speculation to run wild but I don't intend to fuel it in any way."
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