SWITZERLAND

game against Spain on Saturday but they had been applauded off the Wembley pitch in recognition of the gallant way they came so close to snatching a point.

Suddenly, though, from the first whistle in the King Power Stadium, this was the England of old. A goalkeeper who struggled to pass the ball 20 yards across his goal. A centre-back in James Tarkowski who seemed caught in the headlights of the Swiss traffic, most notably when he was robbed by Denis Zakaria who teed up Xherdan Shaqiri to hit the outside of the post.

Danny Rose flitted from being an energetic attacking option and straying hopelessly offside after his first touch was a simple pass straight into touch.

Fabian Delph looked woefully short of match fitness – one of the problems of picking an international not good enough to play in his club side. Ruben LoftusCheek seemed similarly cumbersome and reticent.

Up front, Marcus Rashford and Danny Welbeck looked eager enough but the former in particular found himself constantly running into a red brick wall.

In one instance England needed two attempts to take a simple free-kick.

It was pedestrian, clumsy and uninspiring – the qualities this ‘New England’ are supposed to be leaving behind regardless of results.

The Swiss just stuck to what they knew – playing like clockwork. Their population is around a sixth of the size of that of England and they barely have enough flat ground for a football pitch.

It is that chasm which meant England came into the game having lost to them just once in over 70 years.

And yet by showing energy, commitment and, most notably, a bit of confidence, they were able to cut swathes through cumbersome England in an opening period they were unlucky not to emerge from in front.

Certainly Jack Butland was the busier goalkeeper and if Mario Gavranovic had gone to ground under an awkward challenge from Tarkowksi just after the halfhour, Switzerland could have