Roy Hodgson says that he is hopeful that 2015 will turn out to be a successful year for the England national team, as he rates 2014 as a mixed year.

The first half of 2014 was highly disappointing for England after they were knocked out of the World Cup 2014 at the group stages. They have put behind this disappointment to win six straight matches in the second half of the year.

This impeccable form has put them top of group E with a six-point advantage over second placed Slovenia and Switzerland. England will be moving closer to qualification if results go their way on the next three qualifying matches.

One of the big tasks for Hodgson in 2015 will be to replace experienced stars like Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, and Steven Gerrard. These high-profile names announced their retirement from international football at various stages in 2014.

Hodgson has already brought in the likes of Luke Shaw, Ross Barkley, and Raheem Sterling to replace these big names. Their impact has been profound so far, but Hodgson will want to extract the maximum performances at most matches. Consistency is a major issue with youngsters at international level and Hodgson would want to change that with his young names.

"We lost one or two senior players at the end of the World Cup for one reason or another. Not least the retirement of people like Ashley Cole, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard – fantastic servants of the game and fantastic players for England over a long, long period of time. That forced us to look at what's available and many of them are the younger ones and they have repaid our faith in them during this autumn period.It’s been a mixed year, obviously. We had great excitement,” said the former Liverpool manager.