Which England would turn up? The promised brave new world of Capello, or the lambs to the slaughter that capitulated so meekly to Croatia at home.
The answer, it appears, should have been obvious from the team selection. With once again the old "stalwarts" of Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard picked across the midfield, with Barry anchoring and Wayne Rooney becalmed somewhere in the outside left position, England lacked direction and the ability to open up defences. Even worse they were so immobile that the Czechs could move through them with short interpassing.
The first 5 minutes seemed positive, England kept the ball reasonably well, and created a couple of nice moves. Then the demons returned, the players tried to play a killer pass and the Czechs got on the ball with confidence.
A team with the ability to increase the pace of the game at will and counter-attack after the opposition over-commit is great to watch. It's a shame that tonight that team wasn't England.
With the exception of Gerrard, who seems to have taken the Beckham mantle of one-man team and inspirational leader, the midfield were ineffective. No-one ever managed to get into a useful support position for Rooney, not even that little fella who was on the team sheet to play up with him. Anyone any idea where Jermain Defoe went?
Anyway, one of Steve MacLaren, and his Guru Sven's, major failings was the inability to make a tactical change to alter the course of the game. Sadly, even in a friendly such as this, Capello couldn't pull the rabbit out of the hat. His changes at least changed the shape of the team, but also raised questions as to why several of the players didn't start.
England should be looking at a team that can develop together rather than one that is stifled at birth by overbearing older relatives. The Lampard experiment has surely run its course, David Beckham's great service to his country must come to an end, and David James should never keep goal for England whilst there is a selection of younger keepers who'll need the experience of playing in such games. John Terry isn't half the player he was, reliant on Carvalho's steadiness to hold together a slightly fragile Chelsea back line, and Rooney urgently needs a strike partner, but more importantly a position to play in.
Gerrard is England captain in all but name, his displays for Liverpool continue to impress whilst Peter Crouch, a more than useful asset at International level, and goalscoring foil for Rooney, wasn't even in the squad. I mean, Emile Heskey and Defoe are not really prolific - Crouch has more than both combined in Internationals. Real decisions need to be made!
Below is my idea of what may have been an England team for tonight's game, Andorra (and possibly Croatia), playing 442 or 451. Based on form, and not reputations.
Green (West Ham)
A Cole (Chelsea)
Ferdinand (Man Utd)
Woodgate (Spurs)
Brown (Man Utd)
Barry (A Villa)
J Cole (Chelsea)
Gerrard (L'pool)
A Young (A Villa)
Rooney (Man Utd)
Crouch (Portsmouth)
Hopefully the pace and confidence on the ball of this unit might mean we have a cutting edge, as well as the ability of Peter Crouch to provide more than an outlet for long balls. Perhaps that is what Capello sees him as - rather than having stereotypical "good touch for a big man" - which means he's loath to pick him. And also we saw that the David Bentley fan club obviously doesn't yet contain Fabio - its primary member is still D Bentley.
It's time that Capello began to rebuild England, rather than shore up the badly cracked facade. At least playing the Czechs, then a hapless Andorra team might have given a few players the experience they need.
Disappointing the home support at Wembley is a trap that Capello must not fall into - England must win friendlies, or at least prove they've learned something from them. What tonight proved was that we still know certain players still don't do it in an England shirt. Time to give a chance to those that might.
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