Fabio Capello said last night that he did not spend yesterday afternoon admiring his art collection but, instead, watching the cream of the Barclays Premier League eventually turn sour on television. The first 15 minutes alone may have made him think twice about whether the England job is worth the hassle, even at £4.8 million a year.

Steven Gerrard surrendered possession, Owen Hargreaves did likewise and then Jamie Carragher spooned the ball in the air. At that point, Capello’s pronouncement that the England team’s failings were purely psychological was looking optimistic. Deluded, even.

The standard was to improve, although not noticeably from Liverpool despite the assertion of Rafael Benítez that “we were not lucky and they were lucky”. A late cameo from Ryan Babel aside, they failed to penetrate. One-dimensional, someone called them, and from all the long balls, that dimension must have been about 20 feet above the Anfield pitch. Manchester United were deserved winners with the sort of resilient 1-0 victory that the pragmatic Capello would admire and the Italian will have been pleased to see a couple of English players in the thick of things.

Rio Ferdinand was named man of the match for his subduing of Fernando Torres, while Hargreaves went on to give a decent display of snuffing out danger. At Juventus and Real Madrid, Capello often deployed two holding players and his desire for a solid platform could make Hargreaves one of the first names on the England teamsheet.

Steve McClaren’s last big mistake as head coach was not starting Hargreaves against Croatia at Wembley. He compounded the error by not bringing him off the bench as soon as England clawed back to 2-2. Some of his own players were flabbergasted and, if yesterday’s positional discipline is anything to go by, Hargreaves will quickly leap ahead of Gareth Barry as England’s midfield screen.

His first few months at Old Trafford were interrupted by injury, but Hargreaves is growing into the role at United. A fee of £20 million was a lot to pay for a destructive player, but he can take a decent free kick when Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo allow him. Best of all, he is a diligent self-improver, which will make him a valuable long-term asset to United just so long as no one tries to compare him to the incomparable Roy Keane.

More than anyone’s performance, though, Capello would have been struck by the lack of Englishmen. Only six starters out of 22 at Anfield were worthy of his attention and one of them, Jamie Carragher, claims to have retired from the international game. It was significant that last night Capello hinted at trying to talk him round, or perhaps Carragher will volunteer to return to duty now that England have a manager of outstanding pedigree. Perhaps Capello could even inspire a comeback from Paul Scholes, whom he also has an eye on. Nothing can be ruled out before the Italian talks at today’s media conference. Will John Terry remain captain? Will Michael Owen stay an automatic selection when fit? Will we see Theo Walcott on the wing?

We know that Capello will not be able to summon a new squad of players because, aside from one or two of the under-21s, they have all been tried at one stage or other in the past two years. McClaren’s problem was not, by and large, in his selections — although he did make some blunders — but as a leader, a motivator.

Capello must convince all the same players that they are capable of winning big matches, of taking penalties. He should know most of their identities already because there are not too many at the top end.

Having watched Arsenal against Chelsea to complete his Sky Super Sunday, Capello will have seen even fewer Englishmen at the Emirates than at Anfield. The number went down farther when Terry threw himself recklessly into a challenge and was forced to limp off with ankle ligament damage. Seeing his players limp off may soon become all too familiar for Capello, but he is being paid £4.8 million to deal with it.

Short of numbers

Fabio Capello, the new England manager, had only 13 Englishmen to watch among the 55 players involved in yesterday’s two top-of-the-table Barclays Premier League matches.

Defenders
Wes Brown(Manchester United)
Rio Ferdinand (United)
Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)
John Terry (Chelsea)
Ashley Cole(Chelsea)

Midfield players
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Owen Hargreaves(United)
Michael Carrick (United)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Shaun Wright-Phillips(Chelsea)
Joe Cole(Chelsea)

Strikers
Peter Crouch(Liverpool)
Wayne Rooney(United)