[jambutty]

I only saw the highlights on ITV but the England team are beginning to show us how we would like them to play. England has all but booked their place in South Africa, as I cannot see the other teams in our group doing anything to derail their quest. We are quite capable of topping the group not just unbeaten but with maximum points.

However Belarus is not the Germans or the Italians or the Spanish or the French so our real test will come when we play those teams in South Africa and not forgetting the S American teams.

But there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure we don’t give away easy goals like we did last night. Granted that some of the first choice defenders were out injured but the understudies drafted in should be good enough to do the job.

And in my view either Gerrard or Lampard should play in their natural midfield position but not both with one out of position.

I get the feeling that once all the other midfielders are fit again Capello will dump one of them for a starting line up, with the other one on the bench. The two forthcoming ‘friendlies’ could be just the time to play either but not both.

Finally, for me with my limited viewing but listening to the radio commentary, Rooney was the man of the match or rather shared it with Heskey. It was Rooney’s ball control and then having the sense to back off that gave Gerrard the opportunity to score his goal and of course his own two goals were pure striking class.