COMMENT: New manager, but the same old England

8:56am Thursday 27th March 2008

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SQUARE pegs, round holes, same old England.

Apparently, Fabio Capello doesn't announce the team until two hours before kick-off, after which the kit man gets to work busily ironing numbers on to the shirts.

It means the team line up in the traditional 1-11, rather than the squad number system that most Premiership stars are used to. And that can be the only reason Wayne Rooney spent the entire first half unable to grasp the fact that a number nine is supposed to play through the middle up front.

The Manchester United ace is one of England's few genuine world-class players. But too often he develops the same headless chicken syndrome previously contracted by David Beckham when he believed he was the fulcrum of the international set-up.

At Old Trafford, his wandering is encouraged because in Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez or Nani, you have a quartet who can slip effortlessly into any position across the front three.

On England duty, though, Capello needed Rooney to hold his position as Beckham, Joe Cole, Gareth Barry, Owen Hargreaves, and Steven Gerard are simply not suited to the job.

At the other end, Nicolas Anelka gave a lesson in being a number nine, and I'll bet a fair few Wanderers fans got a pang of regret when he outstripped John Terry to win the penalty.

Speed, anticipation, movement, he has it all, but more importantly, his team-mates know that when they play a ball behind the back four, that Anelka will be there to chase it, and not halfway inside his own half remonstrating with the referee.