French lesson

Becks: Welcome to the 100 club.

David Beckham finally won his 100^th England cap on an otherwise uninspiring night for England in Paris.

Becks managed a decent hour as England turgidly slumped to a 1-0 defeat after David James upended Nicolas Anelka and Franck Ribery subsequently slotted home from the spot after 32 minutes.

Leaving the field to a warm ovation from both sets of fans, England ran out the rest of a dull game which will only pose further questions about the state of the national side.

Rio Ferdinand acquitted himself admirably in the captain role and ironically it was former Captain John Terry’s who let Anelka slip in and win France a penalty.

There were few highlights, Wayne Rooney worked hard but was ultimately ineffective as a lone striker. Without the attacking support of playmakers such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez it’s hard for a player of Rooney’s talent to break down a side single-handedly.

Steven Gerrard failed to build up the head of steam he needed to support Rooney and was removed at half time following a lacklustre half.

Despite the recall, David Beckham showed again that he doesn’t need blistering pace to find the danger zone with his right foot. What was lacking for Becks was the initiative to push forward, it didn’t help that Wes Brown provided poor support as he had his hands tied with winger Florent Malouda.

The inevitable substitutions failed to break down the French. Stewart Downing’s introduction added some balance to the left and Michael Owen looked off kilter despite sniffing out a half-chance in the second half.

It seems that England are indeed backwards in going forwards, there was little penetration, guile or initiative.

Capello is working from the ground up to restructure England and his mantra seems to be pass the ball and retain possession. There were the occasional glimpses but come the final whistle the French had excelled in that particular lesson.

share this story: