His favourite city was not built in a day and nor, it is clear, will Fabio Capello's reconstruction of the England national team be an overnight job. While some aspects of the 1-0 friendly international defeat away to France on Wednesday were depressingly familiar, there have been subtle changes on the training ground, with Capello and his staff attempting to instil a different approach, particularly in the way the team defend.

Rafael Benítez remarked upon taking charge of Liverpool in 2004 that his first task would be to “move the defensive line ten or 15 metres further forward” and it seems that Capello is attempting to enforce similar changes with England.

The difficulty is that, while club managers can work with their players on a daily basis, Capello will see his players for only one week between now and August, but David James, the Portsmouth goalkeeper, believes that the defence are already taking his messages on board.

“We dropped off defensively in the qualifying games a few months back and we are trying to play in higher positions,” James said on his way out of the Stade de France on Wednesday night. “Mr Capello wants England to play without fear. The high [defensive] line is an aggressive line.

“If you look at the Russia and Croatia games , perhaps we've been guilty of dropping off too deep. Against a very good France team, a good ball and a good run has brought us unstuck and we have to learn from that, but they are one of the best teams in the world and as long as we learn about holding lines, whether it is too high or too low or whatever, it is all part of the learning curve.

“Fortunately this was a friendly and, as I said when Mr Capello took over, the good opportunity he has got is he is going to have so many friendlies in order to test things out.”

The next of those comes at the end of the club season, with England facing the United States at Wembley on May 28 and Trinidad & Tobago, pending confirmation, in Port of Spain on June 1. Such fixtures are usually synonymous with cry-offs, but, with much to work on at the training ground, it might - might - be a different matter this time.

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football