What England Learned In Kazakhstan

(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

1 Cross Capello at your peril

Fabio Capello has always ruled with an iron fist rather than the gentle arm round the shoulder and it showed in Almaty. England's start, harried as they were by fervent Kazakhs, was riddled with errors. They could have been a goal down inside 20 seconds and an offside flag later spared them.

The shoddy opening irked Capello and he was soon stood on the edge of the touchline, his gesticulations the very epitome of the angry Italian, screaming and shouting at his players. Sven Goran Eriksson or Steve McLaren mollycoddled under-performing players. Capello would sooner strangle them.

The approach paid off and England ended the first-half two goals to the good thanks to efforts from Gareth Barry and Emile Heskey. They are sitting pretty atop their group after six wins out of six and surely all that can derail their journey to South Africa now is complacency. Under Capello's disciplined order, that is unlikely to happen.

2 Green fingers

Sergei Ostapenko oh so nearly became Kazakhstan's answer to Davide Gualtieri when he missed inside of 20 seconds. That he failed to score his gilt-edged chance was down to a combination of Robert Green, making his first competitive start in goal for England, and John Terry. England would probably have preferred to play in mankinis than to have conceded to Ostapenko

Green's touch was vital, for England and his confidence alike. Conceding so early into his England career would have made him a laughing stock - being the goalkeeper for the national side is not the easiest of tasks. But he survived that scare and looked assured for the rest of the 90 minutes. David James may have a challenger.

3 Rooney finds the centre ground

The defensive forward is football's latest tactical innovation. Attackers like Dirk Kuyt and Wayne Rooney are increasingly employed by their managers to destroy and create in equal measure. In the Champions League final, Sir Alex Ferguson assigned Rooney to Manchester United's left flank in order to negate Lionel Messi's impact.

For England, though, Capello has used Rooney behind a main striker and the United forward has repaid him by scoring eight goals in his past six matches for England. Given his goal drought for England previously, Rooney is clearly thriving unde Capello's guidance.

His goal on Saturday took the breath away, a acrobatic overhead kick into the far corner after his initial improvised effort had been saved. Few would have tried it; fewer still would have pulled it off. After the match Rooney spoke about how much he enjoys being England's focal point - a pointed reminder for the boss back at Old Trafford?

4 Left-wing leanings suit Gerrard

After a dismal 2-2 draw in a friendly against the Czech Republic last August, Harry Redknapp blasted Capello for "destroying" Steven Gerrard by playing him on the left. It was a parochial view that betrayed the English manager's lack of tactical flexibility. Those calling for Gerrard to play in central midfield need their heads testing.

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