England 1-4 Germany

So, England lost to Germany. Were we surprised? I was, as I had them down to win 2-1. Yet it wasn't the worst performance I've ever seen from England, and I don't quite know why the pundits were saying that it was.

Clearly the first goal was an awful piece of defending. To concede like that at such a high level is unbelievable. Terry, who was watching the German midfield rather than the flight of the ball, ran right under the goal kick and then - given that pace isn't his best attribute - was never going to catch up once he'd actually looked up and seen the ball fly over his head.

The defence was weak again for the second goal, but to be frank they were pulled apart by some wonderful movement from the German forwards. Sometimes a team just beats you, and that was the case with this goal.

Upson's goal was good, and for a 15-minute period we were the better team. The mistake by the officials was obviously unfortunate, but sometimes these things happen. Great teams rise above things like that. Poor sides can't. England didn't. I suspect Germany would have, if it had happened to them in that game.

The rest of it was an attempt by a team totally lacking drive and determination to break down a confident young side with a good defence. It wasn't a great surprise that Germany were able to counter-attack so well.

I'm not really sure that we knew what we were doing, at any point in the game. Germany played much better, changing the way they played to suit the phases of the game beautifully. In the end they more than deserved it.