FINAL FLING ... Fabio Capello

AT seven'o'clock on Tuesday night the penny was supposed to have finally dropped for Fabio Capello.

Watching his England players warm up at Wembley, he realised it was going to be a difficult night.

Capello would later claim some players carried too much baggage, that they would never recover mentally from the World Cup.

He meant South Africa 2010. But it could easily have been Germany 2006.

He also suggested his squad had some phobia about playing at Wembley.

That one, though, doesn't quite wash. He said the same thing shortly after taking over as England boss only for his side to warm up for South Africa with wins over Kazakhstan (5-1), Ukraine (2-1), Andorra (6-0), Croatia (5-1) and Belarus (3-0).

And where were those games played? Er, Wembley.

Yes, Tuesday night's limp 1-0 victory over Wales was only our first home win in five.

But, as we have seen, you can't really blame the stadium.

And as for playing better away from home, why then were we so c**p in South Africa? That is also away from home, I believe.

No, I think what Capello saw on Tuesday night was confirmation of what he has thought all along, even when the goals were flying in during the qualification for South Africa.

That we're not very good.

The key to success in football has always been ball retention and pace.

In players like Theo Walcott and Ashley Young we have speed.

Against Bulgaria in Sofia we even had a certain touch. Against Wales, we had a midfield totally lacking in mobility (both physical and mental).

We all know the names.

Now you might be able to get away with one or two pedestrians in a team but not an entire midfield.

As for keeping the ball, we were shown how to do this by a team ranked 117th in the world.

There's not much time to get it right. But there is enough. By the time Euro 2012 comes round, Capello can play a midfield of Scott Parker in the holding role behind Steven Gerrard, a player the manager still rates, and Jack Wilshere.

In front of them, an attacking trio of Young, Wayne Rooney and Walcott.

No Stewart Downing, England's best player against Wales?

This is only a personal view but I have the feeling Downing could well go on the missing list in big games.

As for the back four, John Terry and Ashley Cole pick themselves while Chris Smalling edges out Glen Johnson as he is a better defender.

Finally, Gary Cahill in for the injured Rio Ferdinand. Yes, but Rio's NOT injured you say. He will be.

As for Frank Lampard, James Milner and Gareth Barry, use them when the game needs to be closed down. Not from the start when a game needs to be won.

Capello is a strange bird. Knowing the midfield he went with in South Africa was not good enough, he still continued to play them. Only now does he admit they're not up to it.

That's as much his fault as theirs.

THE Rugby World Cup is upon us and all eyes will be on Martin Johnson.

The England coach has some highly-talented players at his disposal and a set of forwards that, on its day, is as good as any on the planet.

Yet you get the feeling that if England are to win the Webb Ellis trophy it will be despite Johnson, not because of him.

Appointed coach without any previous experience — only England could do this — his record of P33 W17 D1 L15 is extremely mediocre considering the resources available.

More worrying is his decision-making.

It was only through force of public opinion that he eventually dropped both former captain Steve Borthwick and, with just one game to go before the squad boarded the plane to New Zealand, centre Shontayne Hape.

By including the hopelessly out-of-touch Hape in the squad, he was forced to omit Riki Flutey, the only cover for Jonny Wilkinson and Toby Flood.

Now he has taken crocked skipper Lewis Moody — even though there are also doubts over scrum-half Ben Youngs and Mark Cueto.

Only an eternal optimist would hold out much hope of the England No 7 making a quick recovery from his knee ligament injury. For the time being — and it could be the entire World Cup — Johnson will have to fill the No 7 berth by fielding out-of-position players.

Johnson says he needs Mad Dog for his captaincy qualities. Yet he has skippers all over the field — Mike Tindall at centre, Wilkinson at stand-off and Nick Easter at No 8.

But then you don't argue with Jonno.

First, he's 6ft 7in. Second, as someone remarked the other day, he knows everything and everyone else is a f***ing idiot.