Some of the talk from yesterday was that a fit Michael Owen would be starting against Wolfsburg, and possibly making his claim for a place on the plane to 2010. Just 20 minutes after the whistle had blown, that dream appeared to die and Patrick Barclay from the Times has his say:

''There are several good reasons why Fabio Capello is reluctant to restore Michael Owen to the England squad - and at Old Trafford last night, with the England manager watching, we were shown one of the best. The striker’s fitness simply cannot be relied upon. That he should have lasted a mere 20 minutes was depressingly predictable.

''As long as he remains agonisingly liable to have to leave the pitch early, eating into a team’s quota of substitutes, he will be no more worthy of an England recall than Jimmy Greaves.''

Meanwhile, something else in decline is the SPL, according to Lawrence Donegan of the Guardian. He reckons that Scottish clubs have been embarrassed in recent European games and, because of the impact of the Premier League, no-one cares about Scotland:

''Why did the Old Firm look so out-classed on both occasions? Simple. Because the managers are forced to rely on mediocre players, or in the case of Walter Smith, who fielded a 39-year-old centre-half against Fredi Kanouté, on players well past their sell-by date.

''And why would that be so? Because the market place has been so distorted by the Premier League that Celtic and Rangers can no longer compete with the likes of Burnley and Wigan when it comes to signing players or, as was the case with Roberto Martínez, promising young managers.''