Steve McClaren has stepped out of Ericsson’s shadow to show England that he is his own man, by giving opportunity to fringe players during a friendly. This was partly forced upon him due to the injuries and withdrawals from his squad.

There did appear to be some legacy issues, as he persisted in playing a number of players out of position. Phil Neville was exposed at left back when challenging Iniesta for the goal, when he could have played Gareth Barry from the start, one of only two naturally left footed players in the squad. The midfield had Carrick, Gerrard and Lampard with Wright-Phillips on the right, which may explain why Phil Neville was exposed with no left sided cover playing in a team with three central midfielders and a right winger.  Dyer was playing a support role for Peter Crouch, when there were other striking options on the bench.

Coupled with the square pegs in round holes syndrome McClaren like his predecessor also had no ‘plan b’, no creativity it seems that the Ericsson shackles were still in place, players thinking about what they were told to do rather than doing what they do for their clubs or what they do naturally. What gets them picked for the national side.

England internationals should be picked or dropped on current form, but all too often they are picked on historical performances, looked upon with rose tinted glasses. Why can the cream of the under -21 side not be employed by the full squad? Especially when the full squad is ravaged with injuries, England could have done with the goal scoring talents of Nugent or Bentley, the wing play of Ashley Young.