CAPELLO STRUGGLES TO MAKE SENSE

England 2, Czech Republic 2

Fabio Capello started the evening digesting the news of Brian Barwick leaving his post at Soho Square - and ended it defending his tactics as England scraped a draw against the Czech Republic.

Joe Cole’s equaliser saved face for Capello yesterday evening but the visitors at Wembley were good value for the lead they took into stoppage-time, with goals from Milan Baros and Marek Jankulovski sandwiching Wes Brown’s first goal at international level.

Working as a pundit, Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp criticised Capello for using Steven Gerrard on the left flank, telling Setanta 1: “I think we’re killing him. Liverpool play on Saturday at home (against Middlesbrough). You’ll see a man there who will run the game.”

Capello explained he was using Gerrard in a 4-3-2-1 system, with the Liverpool skipper and Wayne Rooney supporting Jermain Defoe as a main striker.

The England boss said before the match experimentation was over and it was time to deliver but the 2-2 result suggested there was still no solution to playing Gerrard and Frank Lampard in the same team.

“He (Gerrard) did not play left, so you have to explain that (to Redknapp),” Capello said. “We played 4-3-2-1; Defoe, Gerrard and Rooney, then three midfielders.

“In that position you have to play between the lines of the full-backs and midfield.

“I decided before the game that Rooney and Gerrard, they had only played one game, will play this for an hour.”

Baros opened the scoring midway through the first half courtesy of a deflection off Ashley Cole. By that time news had been filtering through about Barwick leaving his post as chief executive of the Football Association.

The equaliser came through the reliable source of a David Beckham set-piece, with Brown heading in at the near post on the stroke of half-time.

Jankulovski curled in a free-kick just after the restart and the Czechs could have added to the lead before midfielder Cole scrambled home in stoppage-time.

“I think we were controlling the game in the second half,” said Czech boss Petr Rada. “At 2-1 we had a big chance to score again and if he scored we probably would have been winners of this match.

“England are a very strong team and they showed that with their late goal, but it is not very often you draw against England. We were very near to winning but it was still a good draw.”

England captain John Terry was not satisfied with the result or the performance, but felt the players must focus on getting things right for the World Cup qualifying campaign, which starts next month against Andorra and Croatia.

“I think overall we expected more from the game but there are some positives and some negatives and we will sit down and analyse them,” Terry said.

“Maybe we should have won the game with the team we had there - and now there are two weeks to go to reassess the game before the qualifying game against Andorra.

“Hopefully we can build on that and take the positives but things (under Capello) will take time to get right.

“The crowd were frustrated and the players fully understand that and we know we have to put on a better show.

“It is important to do that when the business of the qualifying campaign begins and we are keen to make up for what happened last time.”

Following his equaliser, Cole added: “It was a difficult night, playing against a good team early on in the season and most of us played on Sunday.

“It was a tough game but we got a good draw against a good side, but we are disappointed not to have won.

“But we haven’t been beaten. We are building our confidence and getting stronger.”