On the evidence of tonight the England football team still has a long way to go before it reaches anything like cup-winning form.

The first half saw our newer players (mostly) once again start things off and in many ways it was a nice change from the style we’ve been playing for countless previous years. We had a good tall and strong + small and fast, traditional forward combination and the discipline throughout the rest of the team was very evident; we held our lines and kept in formation. However, we completely lacked any flare and played absolutely by the book. Not only did this lead to a lack of scoring opportunities, as our lack of movement seldom broke the Spanish lines, but it also proved the undoing of our defence on a number of occasions, most notably the goal. Essentially, it’s all very well holding your defensive and midfield lines but if you allow the opposition to waltz straight through the middle of you then it’s no good to anyone.

Moving onto the second half and the gulf in class (whether it be from our newer players being nervous, inexperienced, or just not as good, is yet to be seen) was clear as crystal. That is to say, the class exhbitied by Beckham. He truly deserves all the praise he gets because he is one hell of a player; great movement, sublime passing (of course), surprising pace, a deft touch, he has it all. However, he was out of control, drifting all over the field needlessly collecting the ball from defenders when he should be making moves into attacking positions. On the evidence of tonight, he is still our star player (obviously Rooney, Owen, Joe Cole and Gerrard weren’t playing and they can all hold their own as well) and he thoroughly deserves to be a part of our future team but someone needs to tether him.

In conclusion, in our next match I think we need to play the team we had in the first half but with Beckham (after he’s had a good talking to by Fabio and told to stay in position more).

Slightly drunken rambling over.