Okay, here's a post-game analysis from a pseudo-'Johnny Foreigner' who sat watching that game (Eng Holland that is, maximum respect to Gary Speed but I'd rather watch pub football than Costa smurfing Rica) with a perplexed look on his face as he listened to ITV complimenting England's performance when they were 2-0 down and being outplayed:

I said before the game that the best thing for England would be for them to get absolutely murdered by Holland at home so everybody gets real and realises that England aren't very good because they have rubbish players and not because of a manager who can't speak English or because John Terry is captain. The worst thing that could have happened was what almost happened, where England came from absolutely nowhere to save the game and return home as ~PROUD LIONS~ who held the previous World Cup finalists in a battling display of british spirit. No, that performance was just tit and 2-3 was flattering.

I know what they were trying to do. Stuart Pearce was shouting it from the touchline - work the ball up the field and "don't go long". What actually happened was they would work the ball up as far as just inside their half, knock it to Scott Parker, who turns around, gets closed down and just passes it back. Nobody was coming short to collect it, and they'd knock it around for a while before one of them (usually Gareth Barry) would get bored and hoof it upfield in the general direction of Danny Welbeck where it would either meet with a dutch head or go straight out for a throw.

They reminded me of Swansea at the start of the season when we were struggling to score. They didn't want to play long ball but the link up play was poor because the players just weren't used to playing together and hadn't built up the huge amount of trust it takes in your team to play the short passing game. They constantly ran out of ideas and just got rid of the ball quickly before they could end up cocking it up themselves.

That's not to say it was the only reason why it didn't work. England's passing to night was smurfing woeful. Elephant passes bumping off shins, passing it into touch, overhitting through balls, I don't think they strung more than four passes together the whole match. They just couldn't do it, they lack the technique and ball control (I actually laughed out loud when Parker tripped over his own feet and set Robben through on goal late on).

Holland didn't play very well either. Robben and Kuyt won that game almost single-handedly and their passing in general was almost as bad as England's, but they at least went forward with some kind of conviction and idea of what to do with the ball.

But ignore everything I said, I'm just narked that no-hopers like Gareth Barry and Adam Johnson who I don't think has played a full game all season (and has a number of appearances I could count on my hands) are permanent callups while Nathan Dyer isn't even considered. Frazier smurfing Campbell?

Verdict: England are not going to win anything anytime soon and will not get out of the groups in E2012 if they play like that

Player Ratings:

Hart: 7/10 Didn't have much to do, not at fault for either goal
Richards: 6/10 Robben styled all over him in the first half, fairly solid otherwise
Baines: 6/10 Made a few zippy runs that went a few strides before he lost the ball
Cahill: 7/10 Offside for the goal, one of the more encouraging displays
Smalling: 5/10 Not good enough for this level
Johnson A: 6/10 No penetration with his runs, wishful crosses
Sturridge: 6/10 Didn't do much, no idea how he got 'man of the match', should have scored
Barry: 5/10 Why is this guy in the team?
Milner: 4/10 Woeful. Lost the ball every time he recieved it, would have got red carded for a studs-up tackle had it been EPL
Young: 7/10 Only player that looked like scoring
Parker: 7/10 Made some last ditch blocks, fell over his own legs
Welbeck: 6/10 Offered little, was alone up front to 'hold up the ball', but couldn't do it