Some questioned Fabio Capello's team selection, but to be blunt the Italian had to stick to his guns and not bow to player power to prove that there can only be one boss.

The difference between this game and the previous two however was not the formation but the fact that England did seem to go out with a sense of purpose, again you felt that certain factions in the camp had pulled in several directions before, but now Capello was firmly in the driving seat.

From the start England had Slovenia on the back foot and really should have gone in at half time at more than one goal to the good, a similar story in the second half where you always felt that a second goal was needed to avoid a sticky final period.

That onslaught never came, perhaps like Man City in 1995, Slovenia thought they were home safe, so were content to play out the final minutes, however they, like Alan Ball's side back then soon found football is a cruel game.

All that mattered in the end was the result, but there were still some observations to be made, firstly David James had a sound game, granted he had little to do in anger, but he did the basics well and should be congratulated for that, secondly the two full backs are not good enough, mainly because they clearly think they are better than they are and therefore they have stopped doing the basics and prefer to do the showboating things, if there is one reason that would prevent us being the shock side of this tournament and winning it, it would be Ashley Cole and Glenn Johnson.

In the centre of defence we know we have problems due to injury etc, to be blunt John Terry is not the player he was and although he did make several timely blocks, he was shoddy in other aspects of the game, the same could be said of Upson.

In the midfield we have the players we just need to find the right balance.

Up front Rooney looked better and can only get better whilst Defoe did what Defoe does for England and that is get goals, you cannot argue with his scoring record for his Country.

Capello seemed to make changes at the right time, although it was a little rash to put Cole up front for a period.

Bring on the Germans, we need not fear them.      

Photo: Action Images

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