Not really with you on this one Malling.

Watching England yesterday filled me with despair and encompassed everything that is wrong with our game. I suppose this must be bred into us from a very early age but we were inept.

My reasoning is that there is one key aspect to football - if you don't give them the ball, they can't beat you. Admittedly on very rare occasions they do ( case in point yesterday) but over the longer term it won't work.

Anyone thinking that yesterday was a sign of things to come may be right. But my suspicion is that England will not make it out of the group stages if the play like that.

I don't accept that young British players do not have the same potential ability but this in-built need to hit the ball 30 or 40 yards when under pressure does only one thing - gives the ball back to the opposition. You could also count on two hands and feet the times Joe Hart kicked long and straight to back to the Spanish.

Unfortunately, I expect to be in the minority here but I genuinely despair for the English game. We need to go back to square one and teach kids ball retention and passing on smaller pitches. Otherwise, I can honestly say that I do not expect to see England win another trophy in my lifetime.

I cannot listen to commentaries where Alan Green features, likewise with Jonathan Pearce. It is the manner with which they go about their business that disturbs me and I simply cannot tolerate either.

Sadly, we shall never hear from the likes of Maurice Edelston, Peter Jones and Alan Clarke ever again. The one match that stands out in my mind was that FA Cup replay at Anfield when we were hanging on to a one-goal lead through Andy Lochhead. It really was cliff-edge stuff, and these gentlemen made you feel as though you were actually in the box sitting next to them, and that they wanted you to be there next to them.

England had 29% possession and 3 shots. Spain had 71% possession and 21 shots.

Why are people saying that this was a magnificent performance?

Some other idiots think we're nailed on to win Euro 2012!!

Prawn, you are right to a degree but that is a much longer process and not something that Capello can be criticised for. Yesterday they needed to work on a plan to do a job which they did...

Well said Massive.

On this occasion the better team lost. But it won't keep happening

I intentionally avoided discussing the match just now. Yes, I too thought the better side lost.

I shall leave it at that.

Capello got the tactics spot on to give up a fleeting hope at a result. Spain forgetting to finish after dominating us for 93 minutes did the rest.

Full marks to Capello, the back 4, and Parker in defence (the less said about him with the ball at his feet the better).

We deserved to lose and were completely outclassed but I credit the side with a lot of heart and effort.

You are right PieEater.

I am not criticising Copello for the performance yesterday and if he did that in the final of the Euros, it would be inspired.

My criticism is aimed at the FA who are never prepared to start the job. We hear of "root and branch" changes but the reality is that they never happen.

I suspect the job that Glen Hoddle is doing at his acadamy is somewhere along the right lines but if we ever want to compete, we need to get the Hoddle's of this World set up with real backing at this proposed Centre of Excellence.

Alas, it won't happen and some will look at fluke results like yesterday as evidence of progress.

MassiveE
Who are these people saying that England gave "a magnificent performance", and that they are "nailed on to win Euro 2012"? And where are they saying it?

Not the least infuriating thing about Alan Green's own performance yesterday was his assumption that we are all numpties, and would be coming out with exactly such nonsense. I haven't heard it from anyone, certainly from none of those who called his wretched show. No one was or is arguing that England have a better side than Spain, or a better chance of winning the European Championship. Clearly they don't. What sticks in my craw is the purblind conceit and pomposity of those determined to give the England players and - yes, this time - Capello, any credit at all for game plan which, this time, worked.

I don't think the players and the coach deserve any credit.

And what was the game plan then if you say it worked?

We got slaughtered, Spain created plenty of chances, but couldn't finish. We didn't stop them making chances did we?

And if Casillas had still been on the pitch, we wouldn't have scored, Reinas attempt at a save was laughable.

We got lucky, very lucky, there was no game plan there.

Spain are clearly the better team, I don't think anybody's doubting that (well, if they are then they're an idiot).

However, what I saw yesterday was finally a bit of "3 lions" passion on display - a team that fought together against admittedly superior opposition. If they come out like that every time then they stand a chance of winning each match. If you don't believe me, look at what Greece did in 2004.

You could argue that we don't have the quality in our team to mount a serious and consistent challenge at the top and you'd be right. You could also argue that we should improve our training methods to produce better players and you'd be right. So what do we want in the mean time? Do we want to see a team trying to play Italian football and failing miserably or would we rather see a team embodying a spirit, playing for each other and coming out to give it a go? I'd certainly have more pride in the England team doing that than what we've seen in the last few international tournaments.

Hopefully yesterday was seen as a key performance - not to suggest that we're now favourites to win the Euros or anything daft like that, but that the team fought out the victory /as/ a team and not having to rely on the great Rooney/Terry/Ferdinand/Gerrard etc. etc. as the ones we can't do without. In Rooney's case in particular, he needs to know that he shouldn't get back into the team until he starts showing the same commitment to the team rather than to his own personal glory.

That is how this match could be used as a springboard - to pride more than glory.

Massive E - They had a lot of shots, but I don't remember that many good chances other than for Fabregas at the end. And while the angle of the ball off the post was fortunate for us, I don't think you can blame Reina for it.

But that's not the point anyway. It was nice to see a bit of fight from an England team for a change.

The tactics were to hold the 18 and press quickly when they got near it. The defenders were to step through the midfield and intercept passes when they tried to play through the middle.

When we got the ball Jones was to find space upfield and hope that Parker or Lampard could escape the press and then we'd have wide open counters. It worked brilliantly 4 times in the 1st half but unfortunately Jones passed the ball like a centrehalf pretending to be a centremid.

And Johnson was to man mark Villa even when he cut inside.

The tactics were spot on and worked exactly as intended.

They were a vastly superior side and should have won. But heart, effort, and good tactics gave us a fighting chance to get lucky. And we did.

Eriksson - So I'm guessing you'd have rather have seen us play open football and probably get beat by 4 or 5 then??

The only way we were going to win that game was to try and contain Spain and then nick a goal. Technically, they're on a different level to us and most other teams in International football. But Dunge is right that it was good to see some fight and spirit from England and it looked like it really mattered to them.

The development of more technical players is something the FA are focused on. Southgate has introduced plans to change grassroots football to the likes of what is seen in Spain, Holland, France, Germany etc. with smaller pitches and more emphasis on technical skill rather than physical skill. The EPPP will (whilst being controversial) improve contact time with players as well so, slowly but surely, we're getting there.

Even if you look at the generation coming through, there are a few exceptions to the 'strong, physical' player that we tend to produce. If you look at the likes of Wilshere, Cleverley, Barkley, McEachran now, there are some good ball-playing midfielders that we have emerging. In fact, in my opinion, the best of these midfielders (if he can get his off field behaviour sorted out), Ravel Morrison is still yet to come through.

Back to the current side, I think yesterday's performance was a one-off and something we had to do if we wanted to beat Spain. We won't play like that at home to Luxembourg or in the Euro's against Romania because that is how they'll play against us and we have to take the game to them. Even if we play the likes of Italy and Germany, we won't put 10 behind the ball because the gap is closing and we are a better team now than we were at the World Cup. OK, we'll be more defensively solid than we were at the World Cup but that isn't a bad thing.

Will we win the Euro's? Probably not - I think we'll do well to make the semi's. But to expect us to play teams like Holland and Spain off the park is unrealistic because we are a team in transition whereas they are currently at the peak of their powers now. Therefore, to win these games, we have to adopt a more cautious approach to win these games rather than go all guns blazing and get trounced like we did in the World Cup. Also remember that Capello's hand was forced in a way because of the players absent that we had and we probably would have been more of an attacking threat had they been present.

Great heart should be taken from the result whilst also learning from the way Spain play and the way they use the ball as well. I think the way we played yesterday was a unique approach suited to the opposition we were playing and, if we do come to play Spain next summer, instead of thinking 'Oh @£# how do we play these' we can go in knowing that we have a method that has proved successful at beating them before.

I think there were positives and negatives from last night, though what I think everyone can agree on is that, despite our win, the game showed just how far behind the likes of Spain we've fallen.

Positives: Lescott and Baines were fantastic and showed why Terry and Ferdinand ought to be consigned to the history books as far as England are concerned. That said, those two are both 29 and won't be around forever either.

Rodwell looked very lively when he came on and Wellbeck did more in 20 minutes than Bent had done in the previous 70. I also thought Phil Jones coped pretty well considering he was a CB playing in midfield and Kyle Walker broke forward well a couple of times.

The negatives: We were utterly outplayed and the manner of the victory felt a lot like an FA Cup giant killing. Great, but only a one off. A nation like England really shouldn't have fallen so far behind the world's best, and we have the PL to thank for that. Oh, and Glenn Johnson. Why Capello, why? What did Micah Richards do, sh*g your wife?

Baines! I of course meant Jagielka

>>Oh, and Glenn Johnson. Why Capello, why?

err...

he's a top fullback in form. His club keeps clean sheets regularly when he plays. He had a great match yesterday and marked Villa out of the game. Was our best attacking player in the first half.

Dunno, can't figure out why other than he's the best English right back by a comfortable distance other than Richards who obviously upset Capello somehow.

I agree Dunge. I was really impressed with England last night. I only remember Hart having to make 1 meaningful save, and that was on about 88 mins I reckon. And the only other real chance I can remember was the Fabregas miss also near the end. All that posession and no end product, doesn't that sound familiar?

Out of the 23 shots they had i think 13 of them were blocked, and 8 were off target. So no, i don't think we let them have chances either, we were very very good at the back. Tactics were spot on, and if Jones had a little more composure on the ball we may have had a couple more chances

Once again I'm confused by people's comments.

Spain were great and played us off the park? You're having a laugh aren't you? Spain created 2 good chances yesterday playing their amazing football. 2 chances they missed.

Capello set us up to contain Spain, to prevent their footballing side from overwhelming us. It worked.

Yesterday, Spain lost. Try deserve to lose, because they could t find a way of playng against us. It ended up in a totally boring game like many I've seen Leicester involved in recently. But as I've said before, I enjoyed that infinitely more than if we'd let Spain play and turn us over 3-0!

Capello's tactics were 100% spot on yesterday and no one can argue with that, because we won.

"Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas says he was not impressed by England's "negative tactics" after his side's 1-0 defeat at Wembley. "Even when they were winning, they had Danny Welbeck up front and everyone else defending," said Fabregas, now at Barcelona after eight years at Arsenal. "We knew after we saw England's starting line-up that they were going to defend basically the whole game. But this is the way they want to play and it worked," added the 24-year-old.

Suck it up, Fabo.

The BBC is coming belatedly to its senses. This today from Phil McNulty -

"Fabio Capello will not use victory as a form guide for Euro 2012 or an indication that his side is closing the gap on the Spanish artists. When and where it truly matters, in serious competition, England cannot even dream of being their equals, let alone betters.

This does not mean, however, that a victory built on industry, resilience and unbending tactical discipline is not a matter of some significance to Capello and his players.

A statistical analysis of events at Wembley would have placed England behind Spain in most areas except, rather crucially, for the one that defines the outcome. For all Spain's possession and passing patterns it was England who scored the goal that won the game.

And to pour cold water on England's celebrations is both churlish and unfair. It is not a result that changes football's landscape but it is a mean spirit that does not allow them to enjoy beating the world's finest national team, irrespective of the status of the game."

Suck it up, Mr Green.

To be fair, in what I listened to of 606, Green seemed to be saying "Anyone who does the usual England thing, gets completely carried away and says 'We've beaten Spain, so we'll win the European Championships' need their head examining." I'd agree with that.

The main thing for me was that I had a couple of quid on a 1-0 victory @ 14.5-to-1, and I'll be topping up my shelf of world class rums with the winnings.

So would I, FF. Alas it is not all that the miserable Ulsterman said, and doesn't at all capture the mean-spirited and self-aggrandising ways he said it. I detest the man.

But anyway, that whiled away a footie-free Sunday very nicely, thank you all.

All I will say is we beat the world and European Champions - get in!!!!

How we did it: I dont care. I will let everyone else analyse it. I am not getting carried in the slightest - we wont get past the Euro 2012 quarter finals, but it still feels good to beat the best team in the world.