No Beckham, no Lampard, no Rooney: a team.

International weeks have been boring for a long time due to the dearth of quality football played by the England side for so, so long. I sometimes watch other international matches, especially those with Arsenal players, but it's hard to muster too much excitement until the world cup/european championships are actually reached.

So, it's genuinely a pleasure to report that the England Russia match last night was actually enjoyable, something that I haven't been able to say about watching England for what seems like an age.

And why was this so? Less galacticos; more team-spirit. Instead of the England team being the 'Can David Beckenham win 1,000 caps' show, (watched by ten viewers in America), balance and and a degree of coherency was evident in the team.

So in central midfield we had Barry and Gerrard, a pairing that actually compliments and balances each other. Barry is one of the players who's patiently and quietly been plugging away for quite a while now, turning out consistently good performances for Villa. He's also one of the few players in the England set-up with a genuine left-foot. His performance last night was wonderful, one of the best I've seen for a long time. He did all the things a holding midfielder should do: break up the movement of the opposition from midfield to attack, and in turn push England's play from defence to attack. If Lampard replaces him, it'll be a tragedy. The central midfield partnership for England should be Gerrard or Lampard with Barry or Hargreaves. Only then will there be any balance to the midfield.

The need for a holding midfielder has been obvious for some time now; what hasn't been as apparent is the need for balance in the forward line. Rooney and Owen can work together, but it remains to be seen whether they can really bring the best out of each other. Yet what is clear, is that Owen loves Emile Heskey. Yes, Heskey. Owen is an instinctive poacher, and a great finisher, but he needs service of the type Heskey can provide. Should McClaren keep Heskey in the team over Rooney? It's almost incredible that this question is being asked, but it is, and McClaren somehow needs to come up with the answer.

The other area which appears to have improved is the right-wing. Now, SWP is clearly not perfect. His final ball often leaves a lot to be desired, and he still has moments of tactical naivety. But how refreshing is it to see a winger who can actually take on and beat players? For too long, we've been in the thrall of Beckham-mania, especially since his false renaissance in Estonia. Yes, he can pass the ball well and take free-kicks with metronomic accuracy, but SWP is a better overall player than him now, far better in fact, and SWP is first choice for the foreseeable future.

So, England finally play like a team, and it's no coincedence that this has happened when some of the bigger names have been forced out due to injury. Whether McClaren takes this on board or not will remain in question until the next round of qualifiers. I hope he does.

Elsewhere, Eduardo scored, again, and Slavan Bilic thinks he's one of the best strikers in the world. Excellent. We also don't seem to have suffered any injuries, although Lassana Diarra maybe feeling a little shame-faced after France's humbling to Scotland last night.

Right, so international fortnight is finally over. Next stop, The Lane.