Another painful reminder this week at Wembley for England fans that we are indeed well on the path to becoming second grade at international level. A good game for Bobby Z to miss, misery for the 85,000 who turned up.

If both nations departed South Africa as the sick men of European football, it is England who are still running a fever. A totally inept performance from back to front, a primitive tactical approach, England so comprehensively shown up it's hard to see what Capello might have learnt about any of the players on view.

I felt for poor Carroll up front, given absolutely nothing to work off, and gave thanks our own magnificent beast Bobby Z was at home in front of the telly with his feet up. While I fully appreciate the marketing speak of talking up your product, do folk still take seriously the shrill mantra of the Premier League that this is 'the best league in the world?' Give me La Liga or the Bundesliga any day of the week - and I've seen plenty of both down the years. Strip out the foreign mercenaries from the English game and see what you're left with when replacing silk with synthetic.

At Fulham, as we head towards a decade in the top flight, it's time to reappraise the massive impact Tigana had when taking us up to the Prem. Invited to an end of season match at the Cottage in the spring of 2000, Jean was lukewarm to the suggestion he swap life on the Cote d'Azur for an office by the Thames. The Fulham side did not impress him. Geoff Horsefield's penchant for a lager and ciggie post-match saw the ex-brickie quickly sent packing.

Persuaded enough talent in the squad existed to learn the game his way, Jean added Saha, LBM and John Collins to the mix, and the rest is history. The speed and style shown in the promotion season of 2000/01 remains the best football I have ever seen from a Fulham side.

And despite the ups and downs of both Chris and Lawrie's periods of tenure, Fulham continued trying to play the same way, where skill won out over physicality and strength. Roy at times took the patient build up and possession play to extremes, but the best testimonial you can give Hodgson is that he improved every single player in the squad. This is most apparent when you look at the transformation in John Paintsil after being bombed out at WHU (in favour of the incoming Lucas Neill). Roy insisted his defenders never dived in, he eschewed sliding tackles as the option of last resort - players had to stay on their feet. On their arse and out of the game was no good to anyone.

With his vast experience round Europe, Roy knew the value in retaining possession. The lesson was there again for all to see in the friendly with France. While England hit long in hope, the French got the ball down and passed it around with glee. It's precisely how the world's best in Italy, Spain, Germany and South America play the game.

Returning from my first professional TV assignment at the 1988 Euro Championships in Germany I'd seen first hand the gulf in class between Robbo's England side and the Dutch, Russians, Germans etc. I talked over my impressions with Ray Lew at the club. He felt UK crowds would never stand for the patient, slow build-up favoured abroad. That the unique atmosphere in tight English grounds, with fans so close to the action, inevitably stoked up players to the pitch where the gung-ho mentality to 'get up and at 'em' took over - despite what the managers might be preaching from the dug-out.

It's an interesting connundrum. Our own results this season have been underwhelming to say the least. Just two league wins so far from 13 attempts. So are we right to stay faithful to our principals? Plenty of 'good' footballing sides have slipped through the relegation trap door in the past. There are many in the Prem who consider Fulham a soft touch. Let's face it, away from home we probably are.

Like England fans everywhere, I want to see England - and Fulham of course - play good attractive football. But that also has to be winning football. Where in the game do you compromise your beliefs, and are we actually nurturing skill and quality from within?

The international make up of our current starting eleven is symptomatic of most other clubs in the Prem. It all suggests a bleak future for the nation hoping to host the 2018 World Cup.
Twitter@fulhamphil