England 1 France 2:As an experiment it was rather like rather like adding water to ammonium sulphide. Which is not mean to be unkind to the youngsters England manager Fabio Capello charged with producing a performance against France at Wembley. Just that at times it stank.
No structure. No cohesion. Precious little to suggest that here were players capable of gracing the national side for the best part of the next decade.
Instead, there were sustained boos at half-time and the final whistle plus a Mexican Wave which rippled its way around Wembley after 42 minutes, good signs that England’s 2-1 defeat against France was not the most riveting football fare.
Of course, you can excuse the result when the side is littered with callow youth. Sunderland’s Jordan Henderson looked star-struck as he watched the blue shirts fly past him in midfield. Kieran Gibbs was uncertain at full-back. Theo Walcott failed to get the better of pacy French defenders.
And Andy Carroll? Actually, Carroll did okay for a big lad up front who was starved of service.
One snap shot into the arms of French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Umpteen headed knockdowns. One header saved by Lloris. One stepover which, if it was not exactly Cristiano Ronaldo, did prove that here was a player with confidence and a hint of ego.
The problem, however, is that the big lad up front tends to attract the big lump forward. Tends to lure England defenders and midfielders in to the trap of taking the easy way out.
Does Capello really want England to play that way at Euro 2012? If so this was not so much a glimpse of the future as a reminder of England’s not-so-distant past. We need to remember this was a French team also in transition, although there appeared to be a good deal more understanding amid the men in blue.
The French, under Laurent Blanc, have shaken off the past. Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Nicolas Anelka. They have all gone or, as in Anelka’s case, been banned for the mutiny at the World Cup.
A fresh, more committed era is under way and it looked that way as Chelsea’s Florent Malouda and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema combined for the first goal after 15 minutes.
In truth it was a simple but precise one-two in the penalty area, leaving Benzema with a left-foot shot on goal which squeezed past goalkeeper Ben Foster at his near post. Foster will not want to see the DVD of that goal in a hurry.
Neither will England’s defence, in which Phil Jagielka proved his calling is not as a right full-back and in which Joleon Lescott and Rio Ferdinand inexplicably seemed to want to leave enough space between them to accommodate two London buses.
The fact is France were quicker to the ball, swifter of mind too. They dominated possession and territory. Indeed, it is doubtful if England have ever played such a one-sided half of football.
The Wembley faithful let them know their true feelings on the half-time whistle with a spontaneous and sustained round of booing. Was it deserved? If you were Gareth Barry and had not contributed one significant cameo in 45 minutes then yes it was. Ditto James Milner.
England’s energy and tempo improved in the second-half, in no small part due to the work rate of Steven Gerrard and cameo displays from Jay Bothroyd and the impressive Adam Johnson.
And, of course, the inevitable goal from substitute Peter Crouch, the 22nd of his England career, volleyed home from short range from a corner after he had been on the field for all of one minute. The cameras immediately panned to Andy Carroll on the bench.
That’s the way to do it.