I actually think the way we had to dig in and grind out that victory will set us up nicely for the knockout stages...That's exactly what sort of thing we will need to do at some stage as we progress.
Towards the latter stages there will be no 'putting teams away' by two or three goal margins, there will be times where we have to have our backs to the wall and the way many players absolutely ran themselves into the ground today and fought for each other shows me we're up for the fight.
Totally agree with Mugwump...where are all the Capello knockers now?
His handling of the Terry situation was first class and Terry responded with a fantastic performance. Where France got it wrong Capello and England got it right.
His changes all worked...
Milner, after a somewhat shaky start was outstanding putting in 3 or 4 World class deliveries and torturing the full back all game. His workrate was exceptional and maturity at the end to run down the clock was first class.
Defoe, although could have been a bit more involved for me, came in and did what he needed to and got his goal.
Upson, an enforced change I know but even though he lacks pace like Carragher he seems to be a lot more of a calming influence, very comfortable in possession and got in a very timely tackle to prevent an excellent scoring opportunity near the death.
James, Had the best game for England I can recall him having for a long time...nothing too serious needed to be done, but coped with most things with ease and probably gave his back four that bit more confidence with how he dealt with things throughout.
Gerrard, on the left...still managed to roam about enough and had an excellent game showing he can be effective in that role.
Joe Cole, as has been said didn't really produce what everyone else was screaming about, but could still be an ace in the pack later on IMO.
All in all an excellent performance I thought and huge credit to Capello and the players for once after all the stick they've had previously...
