ENGLAND 5, KAZAKHSTAN 1

AS Wayne Rooney's barber knows well, you can't keep on covering up the bald patches.

The newly-shorn Rooney helped stave off total exposure yesterday but, make no mistake, this was a comb-over performance.

And on the day that David Beckham equalled this England legend's number of caps, it was a comb-over of Bobby Charlton proportions.

Click here for a Wayne Rooney slideshow from the game

What hid beneath the strands of a Rooney double and a couple of gifts handed to Rio Ferdinand and Jermain Defoe - with an own goal thrown in for good measure - were familiar blemishes.

To greet five with frustration seems churlish.

To moan when maximum points are in the qualification locker after three games seems mealy-mouthed.

To pick holes when the scoreboard screams another emphatic England victory smacks of silliness.

But the jeers that brought such an angry response from captain and coach were not entirely unjustified. And at one point, in a sorry first half, you might have expected Rooney to jeer loudest.

TWO GOOD - Wayne Rooney nets his second for England's five stars

You can always tell when Rooney is not comfortable with his role - tetchiness infiltrates his game.

And his shove on Ruslan Baltiyev, although not particularly violent, was an indication of his frustration.

That it happened on the toes of the increasingly agitated Fabio Capello was significant. The folly of deviating from the system that employs Rooney playing off Emile Heskey had been laid bare.

At least, with the rumbling of discontent tailing Capello down the tunnel, the Italian realised his error.

And Rooney's second-half performance gave him a grin that looked like a pumpkin's smile.

Attacking from a deep central position sees Rooney at his most destructive. His most scary.

Combined with the work of the man wielding the No 1 clippers, downright frightening.

BACK OF THE NET - Wayne Rooney scores England's fourth

Sure, he should not have been so intimidating that not a single Kazakh dared to venture near him when he headed home Wes Brown's routine cross for England's third.

Nor should he have been grisly enough to be left unattended when he knocked in a loose ball for the fourth after substitute Beckham had curled in an inoffensive ball.

But his increased involvement caused a degree of uncertainty and fear that was previously absent from the Kazakh defence.

His left-sided isolation in the opening 45 minutes was the result of the age-old conundrum.

Initially, Capello did not try and solve it. He copped out.

You can play Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, you can play Gerrard and Gareth Barry, you can play Lampard and Barry.

You cannot play Gerrard, Lampard and Barry.

Three central midfielders meant Rooney on the left, Theo Walcott on the right, Emile Heskey isolated.

It did not work.

Against massed ranks, pace and ingenuity are the lock-pickers.

Gift

Walcott certainly has one in abundance - the other still surfaces only occasionally.

His flat cross into the path of Heskey was a beauty but the Wigan striker did what comes naturally and stared a gift horse straight in the mouth.

But for every decent delivery and every right decision, there was a touch too many and a journey down a one-way street to touch.

And Walcott is never, and I repeat never, going to score with his left foot from 25 yards.

That is what England were reduced to in a first half that smacked of complacency.

Capello, though, has shown himself to be a decisive coach and while Barry can count himself unfortunate to be the one sacrificed at the altar of sense, it was the correct tactical ploy.

ROO BEAUTY - Wayne Rooney scores his first goal as Frank Lampard looks on

Shaun Wright-Phillips in a wide role gave the system much more balance. Not that it banished the laziness, carelessness and occasional cockiness that blighted this performance.

Both Sergey Ostapenko and Tanat Nusserbayev should have nudged the Kazakhs ahead before relief flooded into the stadium when Ferdinand smuggled himself behind a knot of defenders to head in Lampard's routine corner-kick.

Ferdinand screamed manically.

But in truth - even after Alexandr Kuchma had headed Lampard's free-kick into his own net - there was not a great deal to shout about.

And when Zhambyl Kukeyev scored with the contempt that Ashley Cole's miserable mistake deserved, it gave you a snapshot of England's shortcomings.

But Kazakhstan's comeback effort was undermined by fatigue in young legs and the gluey Wembley turf.

Rooney helped himself to his double and was almost too embarrassed to celebrate with gusto.

So embarrassed perhaps that he made way for Defoe who scampered clear in the closing stages to put another plank in the argument for his continued inclusion ahead of Michael Owen.

He certainly took his goal well but the Kazakh keeper Alexandr Mokin did have the odd weakness.

Ovation

Not being able to get off the ground, not being able to dive and not being able to stretch.

It was another reason for placing this thumping scoreline into the context it deserves.

Beckham received the biggest ovation of the night when he came on for his 106th cap and his now predictable - and almost sorry - cameo. That tells you a lot.

The quality of the football had not been sufficient to distract the crowd from the appearance of a celebrity.

Capello might not be minding the quality and be feeling the nine-point width instead. But you doubt it.

The complacency and over-confidence that scarred much of this display will not resurface in Minsk.

There's more chance of Rooney's hair growing back. And his barber will put you straight on that one.

This article has 3 comments