Whenever England got the ball, all they saw was a sea of red shirts, gathering swiftly around them, reducing the options of attack and taking away any chance of a goal. Montenegro clearly didn't come to England with the objective to score a couple of goals - their 4-5-1 formation clearly demonstrating that fact, and the all-talk build up from certain Montenegro players who claimed that they were "super-confident" that they could beat the English at Wembley hardly looked like coming true.
It proved to be a tough test for England to break down the Montenegro defence, as the visiting team hardly ventured out from their own half - but a test that the England fans certainly expected their team to pass, with the boos at the end of the game, expressing that.
It was a reasonably good start to the game for England, having 70% of possession, and Crouch coming close twice thanks to a beautiful through ball from Gerrard, and a good cross by Adam Johnson. In the middle of the game, the good start fizzled out, and England became sloppy, and lost any cutting edge that they may have had at the start.
The second half was similar to the first, but England retained their sharpness (the blunt form of sharp) and had a good spell of pressure near the end - as they should have won a penalty through Ashley Young, and then a blatant hand ball from a Montenegro defender, which only the referee missed.
It was not a good England performance, but it wasn't a bad one - it was a frustrating one. A performance that England fans are becoming used to witnessing - if they haven't already.
In a rare chance for Montenegro which had Joe Hart beaten, they hit the crossbar with a great half volley in the eight third minute, which could so have easily caused Capello to lose his job. Kevin Davies, the eldest English debutant for over fifty years, came on for Crouch a couple of minutes before that, and picked up a yellow card with one of his first actions. A good few headers and his general physicality helped to open up a few areas, but the half chances came to nothing. At the end of the game, as Montenegro celebrated as if it was a win, the English players trudged off, wondering what they could do to win over their frustrated fans.
