A solid first half display by England yielded few goal scoring chances, with headers by Gerrard and Rooney the only of note. The French had not really threatened but still England went behind to a Frank Ribery penalty. David James had fouled Anelka who was rushing into the box onto a through ball, the contact was deemed accidental by the referee and luckily James stayed on the pitch. After the French scored Rooney continued to worked hard with Gerrard up front but England generally looked lacking in pace and were not helped by having to come deep to collect the ball.

 

In the second half Capello brought Owen and Downing on to inject the pace England seemed to need, along with Crouch as a foil for Owen. Lescott came on as a replacement for the injured John Terry. Surprisingly maybe, Beckham came out in the second half, but he continued to make some good contributions.

 

Anelka continued the second half as France's main threat, but Malouda came closest when he shaved the post with a shot from outside the box, with James gratefully watching the ball hit the Carrefour branded hording beside his goal.

 

Beckham was pinging balls all over the park trying to create something for England but in the 64th minute he was taken off to much applause and replaced by David Bentley. Wes Brown who was poor both in defence and attack was taken off for Glen Johnson.

 

Downing never got going, and was continually facing toward the middle of the park or back towards his own goal. He mis-controlled a lovely crossfield ball from Beckham that would have seen him in a position to cross into an almost undefended box for Owen and Crouch.

 

For all Englands' toothlessness in attack, France were mainly reduced to shots from outside the box. Ribery had a great chance in the 75th but dragged his shot across goal. Ribery then had another opportunity in the 86th but James saved. England won a corner rom the resulting break only to give the initiative straight back to France who broke with Cisse, who ended up firing into the side netting under pressure from Cole.

 

A very dull affair at the end and when the fourth official announced the 2 extra minutes it could not have been welcomed by either side or their fans.

 

Hargreaves made a penetrating run at the death but Stuart Downing was waiting for the game to end on the touch line rather than anticipating the pass and the referee's whistle went for full time.

 

Overall a good performance, when taken in context of the opposition and their home advantage. But with Beckham, Gerrard and Joe Cole apparently sacrificed for pace and width, we lacked any creativity. Capello will know we need blend of all three if we are to make our mark in the World Cup in 2 years time.