England vs Spain

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.