Some Perspective

The USA are a very useful team, ranked 6 places behind England by FIFA. They have beaten Spain in the last year and were 2-0 up against Brazil before finally losing 3-2 in the Confederations Cup Final in South Africa last year.

England created many more chances than the USA with 9 attempts on target to the USA's 5.

The reason for Heskey playing was writ large after four minutes. He set up Gerrard beautifully with a clever incisive pass, although Gerrard took it very well. Heskey continued to be a focal point for the attack on a night when Rooney was well shackled by a good US defensive unit. Pity he fluffed his one-on-one with Tim Howard.

Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole played pretty well. Gerrard and Lampard were OK in the middle of the park. Not the best performance by Lampard. He seemed to be staying back to allow Gerrard to take up more attacking positions.

We missed Barry as the cover for the defence. Neither Lampard or Gerrard are good at tracking back as evidenced by Gerrard's woeful attempts before Clint Dempsey's shot.

Worrying aspects are, obviously, Green's errors. Surely, Hart has to start, otherwise performances in training are irrelevant.

Carragher and Terry's lack of pace is a worry. Hopefully, Ledley King will recover from the thigh problem. Cole and Jonhson's pace may not be enough to protect the central defenders against the better teams.

Why did Milner start if he had been ill all week? Anyway, hopefully, Barry will be back.

I thought Aaron Lennon was disappointing and rather timid. His final ball remains a problem and he probably should have shot when put through on goal. I really don't understand why Shaun Wright-Phillips was preferred to Walcott. He's 28 and never really made it at this level. He missed a pretty good chance. Walcott has greater pace than both Lennon and SWP and is still pretty young. But that's one for Fabio.

I think we miss Joe Cole's creativity. He has looked very hungry when he has got a game. He takes players on, creates chances for others and scores useful goals. He may have to be a second-half substitution if Aaron Lennon isn't doing the business.

Anyway, one point is better than none. Now, England just have to beat Algeria and Slovenia by more than the USA to top the group. The World Cup is a long competition and it is teams that grow into the tournament that win it.