Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole failed to give them any width in the first half and even Rooney seemed so dissatisfied with the service that he continued to roam deep in search of possession. Defending isn’t the best part of my game but it’s a job I’m more than capable of doing.”A triumph of adaptation for their captain but elsewhere, England battled against themselves, rather than the more modest talents of John Toshack’s admirable Wales side, to make 4-5-1 work. If Beckham can consolidate as a holding midfielder, he might just be able to concede the right wing to Wright-Phillips and enjoy his remaining years in a role that does not threaten to expose him to the pace of younger men. Against Wales, he busied himself with the unglamorous task of stealing possession in front of his side’s penalty box and yet still found a longer, more spectacular range for his passing on occasions.His mood was good enough afterwards to remind everyone that he “does not pick the team” but would, no doubt, be thrilled to be selected in the same position for Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland. “I get more of the ball there and that means I can play different but it’s all about what’s best for the team,” he said. “If the manager thinks the performance was good and he doesn’t want to change it I’m happy If he wants to change it, I’m happy with that as well I give extra protection to the centre-halves Rio [Ferdinand] said he felt a lot more comfortable. Reacquainting himself with Ryan Giggs in the tunnel before kick-off, was a reminder to the England captain that any footballer seeking to survive in the game beyond his 30th birthday must adapt quickly or face extinction.Under pressure from a new generation at Old Trafford, Giggs’ position is ever more perilous.

In the heat of a Millennium Stadium giddy with excitement at out-singing the visitors, the most obvious lesson to be learned was that 4-5-1 works well for England’s captain.Perhaps not for Wayne Rooney, and even in the case of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Frank Lampard, two players whose club Chelsea have pioneered the formation but for whom the system did not draw the very best performances. It did, at the very least however, place Beckham right back at the heart of the national team and once there he established a relevance that has escaped him of late when he has been dispatched to occupy a place on the right that has seemed increasingly more isolated.His capacity for reinvention in other areas of his life has, we already know, been boundless. By the end of the afternoon, England’s new holding midfielder had redressed the balance.

The fundamental questions about the 4-5-1 formation – whether it will survive the return of Michael Owen, whether another bold new system will take its place by next summer -can only be answered when Sven Goran Eriksson knows exactly which players he has at his disposal next June. Saturday was the day that the captain’s role changed forever, and the longevity of his international career might just depend on how well he adapts.

If the seventh World Cup qualifier of England’s campaign proves to be the starting point for a fresh new departure in Beckham’s life as an international footballer then it started inauspiciously enough. Quite who among the blazers of the Welsh Football Association booked Goldie Lookin’ Chain, an act best described as irreverent, as the pre-match entertainment remains a mystery but their unflattering remark about Beckham’s wife, Victoria, was symbolic of the nonsense he has long had to endure. Kicked by John Hartson and insulted by the only hip-hop act in history to come out of Newport. It was tempting to think that, short of borrowing the flanker Ryan Jones to mark him for the afternoon, the nation of Wales threw everything they could at David Beckham and still failed to prevent one of his best England performances in recent memory. England and Poland have so dominated the section that both, under the European qualification system, should go through to next summer’s finals automatically as group winner and one of the two best group runner’s-up.. That’s why it’s important that when we win the ball we try to keep it so we can come up and support him.”* England seem certain to clinch a place in the World Cup finals before next month’s tie with Poland, a fixture which had been looming as the decisive one in Group Six. Frank Lampard is always good but he’s not in top form, I don’t think, for us or Chelsea There are reasons for that He is slow in coming to his best.