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Football Blog: Substitutes save the day
International friendly: Holland 2-2 England 
ARE England's second string better than the first team?
It certainly looked that way last night, with the substitutes playing with verve, creativity, and importantly an end product, and will have given Fabio Capello a nice selection headache.
The established players whose places were not seemingly under threat, played sloppily, and did themselves no favours, Ferdinand particularly, although he did pick his game up in the second half.
Defoe, scorer of two goals, Milner, Carlton Cole, and Wright-Phillips, all injected a bit of pace into the game, and looked far more of a threat than the lumbering Heskey.
Rooney was unlucky not to score at the end of the first half and worked hard, but the substitutes stole the show.
I for one can't believe last night was Milner's international debut, it has been a long time coming, he is the most-capped player ever for the under 21s, and made an immediate impact, setting up the second goal, he has natural talent and should be a certainty for the World Cup squad.
Wright-Phillips has established himself ahead of Lennon and Bentley as top pick for the right wing when Beckham is not around, which of them will be Capello's number one choice next summer will be interesting, but if the team is to move forward I would play Wright-Phillips, with Beckham on the bench.
Carlton Cole has a big season ahead of him, if he can score around 15 goals plus for West Ham and keep free of injury, scoring against the top teams also, he could establish himself as a partner for Wayne Rooney in attack.
Fail, and we could be left with Heskey or Crouch.
The wildcard of course in Michael owen, if he has a good season it won't be long before he is in contention for positions.
Either way, England proved last night, despite a poor second half from the Dutch and some suicidal defending in the first half, that we have enough established strength in depth to mount a sustainable challenge next summer, and hopefully it would have given those who thought their place might be assured, somthing to think about.
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I was glad to see Jermaine Defoe given a go the other night and what a way to show his appreciation to his manager by bagging two goals.
Obviously his brace will never be remembered as a crucial one for England be it in a friendly described by many as pointless but in regards to Defoe's season, I think it will serve to be a pivotal moment.
After the game, Mr Capello prasied Defoe saying "I think Defoe is one of the best English strikers there is, he's very fast, technically he's good and he's always in front of the goal." At last the Tottenham striker has an England manager who truly recognises his ability and who is rightly going to give him a fair crack of the whip unlike Eriksson and McClaren before him.
If Jermaine carries on this form for his club then unlike in the past, he will not be fighting for a place in the England squad but for a place in the starting eleven. But as an Arsenal fan, I'm hoping he saves his best form for his country!
I was glad to see Jermaine Defoe given a go the other night and what a way to show his appreciation to his manager by bagging two goals.
Obviously his brace will never be remembered as a crucial one for England be it in a friendly described by many as pointless but in regards to Defoe's season, I think it will serve to be a pivotal moment.
After the game, Mr Capello prasied Defoe saying "I think Defoe is one of the best English strikers there is, he's very fast, technically he's good and he's always in front of the goal." At last the Tottenham striker has an England manager who truly recognises his ability and who is rightly going to give him a fair crack of the whip unlike Eriksson and McClaren before him.
If Jermaine carries on this form for his club then unlike in the past, he will not be fighting for a place in the England squad but for a place in the starting eleven. But as an Arsenal fan, I'm hoping he saves his best form for his country!