The difference is, when Arsene Wenger said Wilshere was exhausted he was hailed as a sage; when Capello said it, his words were dismissed as another tired excuse.

What will be different when — if — England travel east next summer? Nothing.

The players will still be fatigued by the demands of the season, the odd important one might be missing or returning from injury, the pressure will be intense and certain qualities, in particular match intelligence, stamina and incisive passing, will disintegrate in the heat of the arena.

That is what happened in the final exchanges with Switzerland. England looked flat, sloppy and were caught out of position without the reserves of energy to recover. Bent missed a sitter, but then he is going to: he would not get near the first team of any of the five countries that look strongest going into the European Championship.

This is not to absolve Capello from blame or criticism. He should have started Ashley Young — although he addressed that error at half-time, which is as early as any manager admits fault — and his comments about the freshness of his players were inconsistent from Friday to Saturday.

Bright spark: Ashley Young (right) impressed during his second-half run out and scored England's equaliser

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