England 5-1 Kazakhstan

An ultimately convincing 5-1 triumph gave England three wins from three matches in WC qualifying, cementing our strong position at the top of the group. A win in Belarus on Wednesday and it would take an implosion for us not to qualify.

There were impressive performances from Frank Lampard – who I am not the biggest fan of but who has been excellent for club and country this season – and in the second half, once moved to a more central role, Wayne Rooney.

Heskey was effective although again looked clueless when it came to actually doing the business in front of goal. Walcott threatened sporadically. Gerrard was disappointing, and Barry was anonymous for 45 minutes before being withdrawn.

Defensively we looked dodgy – Cole was a shadow of the player who has been bombarding up the left flank for Chelsea this season, Upson looked short of Internation class against sub-mediocre opposition, and David James always makes you think there’s a calamity round the corner.

Wes Brown looked solid enough, and Rio marshalled well, however. Concentration is the main problem when facing minnows such as the Kazakhs.

D-Beck got a rapturous reception when coming from the bench, and Jermain Defoe looked lively when coming on. The England fans belied their reputation as the best in the world by booing Ashley Cole – but then he is so easily detestable.

As long as it wasn’t racist, and was more to do with his arrogant swagger, ridiculous autobiography, and shameful trestment of one the most beautiful women on the planet, its fine with me.