International efforts

It's international week, and the players have been involved in all kinds of efforts.

Like the curious "friendly tournament", hosted by Cyprus, which Dimitar Berbatov's Bulgaria won. Lee Young-Pyo and South Korea beat Greece 1-0, Didier Zokora with Ivory Coast beat Guinea 1-0 and Robbie Keane could lead his country to a (late) victory over San Marino, securing the 3 points that Ireland sorely needed for their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

Mido played for Egypt as his country cruised to a comfortable friendly victory over Sweden in Cairo. Not the most spectacular of games, but a good effort from a very active Mido. Egypt never looked like losing.

Tom Huddlestone and the England U21 squad came back from 2 goals down to draw with Spain, while the senior England squad lost against their Spanish opposition. Out of our 4 players originally called up for England duty only Jermain Defoe made it onto the pitch, and only for 20 minutes. The home defeat was booed by the fans at Old Trafford, and booed in the papers today. It WAS a rather patchy performance, but also one that looked like it was supposed to be just that. You don't win games by changing players and tactics every 15 minutes - but friendlies perhaps don't have to be won. If Steve McClaren had been dead set on winning the game he would have played it differently. Instead, each change looked like an experiment and the whole game looked like a training session. As such, it can be hoped and even expected that McClaren was able to see what he needed to see, learn what needed to be learned and that the newer players got some experience - albeit in this patchy way.

Gerrard in the middle and Lampard on the left side; Lampard in the middle and Barry on the left; Crouch with Dyer; Defoe and Crouch with Dyer behind; Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right; Joey Barton on the right, Stewart Downing on the left... and so on. I lost track of all the changes and formations - arguably the game could have been won by confusing the Spaniards. And with Rooney and Lennon playing their 15 minutes or so maybe it would have been.

Essentially, the only thing that looked like a makeshift solution - Phil Neville at left back - was also the one that lost the game. Ferdinand headed out a cross from David Villa, only to see it end up at the feet of Iniesta. Iniesta, unmarked by Neville (who had positioned himself too close to Ferdinand in the box and could not get his man in time), shot the ball beautifully past defence and goalkeeper.

Joey Barton made an energetic display of his first 15 minutes as an England player and Gareth Barry looked quite good, replacing Gerrard after half time. The Times wrote that Shaun Wright-Phillips has hardly been prepared for international football by sitting on the bench at Chelsea, but I would like to add that he did show how much of a waste it is to have him warming a bench anywhere. He was quite a presence until he was replaced by Defoe with 20 minutes to go. Defoe found it hard to make an impact, as did Kieron Dyer - who did have a good shot in England's explosive first minutes. Ben Foster looked good in goal, Woodgate a little insecure in front of it. Needless to say, I would have loved to see Michael Dawson get a few minutes in, but it was not to be.

All in all, and seen as an experimental training session, I thought it was an interesting display. The fans at Old Trafford, hoping for a victory, could hardly be expected to agree.