England 0-1 Spain : Review

England's loss to Spain continued England's dismal run of matches without a win. Steve McLaren merely discounted it as a friendly but when a team is running low on confidence, a team should show more vigour when playing at home (albeit a friendly) and should try to do more to win to lift spirits.

England started at a pace but this lasted a mere 10 minutes and the match was dominated by Spain for the remaining 80 minutes. England's tactics were once again a shambles and there was no balance to the team at all. After playing the failed 5-3-2 system against Croatia, Steve McLaren should have played a solid 4-4-2 making sure the players picked played in their natural club positions. Shifting Frank Lampard to the left and playing Kieran Dyer just off Peter Crouch up front was never going to work.

With England's dismal run of games, Steve McLaren should have used this game in one of two ways. He could either have fielded a near full team of fringe players who would have had the appetite to do well as this would have served them with a chance in an England shirt or he could have fielded his strongest team to help boost confidence ahead of England's forthcoming trip to Israel next month which incidentally, is now a must win. Instead, he decided to field a team where he played players out of position and this disrupted any balance and thus this match was a waste of space on the international calendar.

Lets start at the back. Steve McLaren was right in giving Ben Foster a chance. With Paul Robinson and Chris Kirkland guaranteed a place and struggling for form respectively, giving Ben his chance was fair, especially after his superb form in a struggling Watford team.

The fullback positions were filled by the Neville brothers. With Ashley Cole struggling (and also suspended for the Israel match), Phil Neville was given the leftback berth where he struggled as he failed to deliver anything in the box as he tended to cut in to use his right foot. Wayne Bridge should have been given this slot as he is the only natural leftback England have other than Ashley Cole. We also know what Gary Neville is all about after his 88 caps so Micah Richards should have been given the rightback slot as he did well against Holland and he is likely to be Neville's successor in waiting. He should be used in all future friendlies in my opinion to build up his raport with the England team. Jonathon Woodgate and Rio Ferdinand were a good pairing in the centre and Woodgate looked very comfortable in the backline. His reading of the game and pace really offers England another quality centreback. He could quite easily oust Ferdinand or Terry if either lose form if he stays injury-free himself. That was probably the only plus point from the game.

In midfield, Steve McLaren decided to field Wright-Phillips down the right, Carrick and Gerrard through the centre and Lampard down the left. I had no problem with Wright-Phillips, Carrick and Gerrard but playing Lampard out of position down the left was asking for trouble. He naturally cut infield and this left Phil Neville (another player out of his natural position) with both Ramos and Angulo for company. Had Spain used the right flank more effectively, they would surely have reaped much greater benefit. With Gareth Barry in the squad, he should have started off in the leftback slot with Stewart Downing playing just in front of him and Steve McLaren must play Bridge and Downing against Israel. Carrick also looked out of form. He struggled with his passing, failed to stamp any authority on the game and offered little protection to the central defenders. He had my support at the World Cup as he can be a fantastic player on his day, but he needs to stamp his authority in midfield and make sure he sits directly in front of the defence and distribute the ball long with his normally good passing game. He should now be demanding the ball from the central defenders which he fails to do.

Up front, Steve McLaren got it all wrong. Andrew Johnson should have started alongside Peter Crouch as he is the only player England have who can rival Michael Owen as a player who plays along the shoulder of the last defender. Peter Crouch struggled up front as Dyer (although he worked none stop and unselfishly) naturally drifted back into midfield rather than staying up front with Crouch. This left Crouch stranded and thus England's attack was totally negated. He received nothing from the referee and the Spanish defenders were able to cope with his height all night.

Overall, the performance from England was lacklustre. Shaun Wright-Phillips did well as did Jonathan Woodgate and Ben Foster (although he only had one save to make). With 60,000+ supporters braving the cold weather, they were right to boo at the end of the match as the players didn't bother putting on a show and McLaren's lack of tactical heed could do nothing to change the match. He never changed the tactics and never encouraged or pushed his players on. Of the substitutes, only Micah Richards and Joey Barton looked as though they were bothered and both should have started from the outset with Richards starting instead of Gary Neville and Barton starting instead of Gerrard or Lampard.

Spain controlled the match and David Villa was a constant menace and Pablo at the back was authoritive and strong. Xavi dictated the midfield and single-handedly along with Silva eliminated Gerrard, Lampard and Carrick.

Next month's fixture against Israel is a must win for England and Steve McLaren must use his strongest players which means Robinson in goal, Neville and Bridge in the fullback slots, Terry and Ferdinand in central defence, Lennon and Downing on the wings with Hargreaves and Gerrard/Lampard in central midfield and Crouch and Rooney up front. Nothing other than a win will do.