Hansen's England verdict

BBC Sport's Alan Hansen delivers his expert verdict on England's 2-0 defeat by Holland in the friendly at White Hart Lane.

This was a case of the Dutch being very good and England being quite poor - and it's back to reality for England.

England are not as good as people thought they were, and they never got to the pace of the game.

The Dutch were superior in terms of technique, ability and first touch and England were decimated.

The Dutch had so much control in the first 20 minutes of the game, and England made individual defensive mistakes as well.

Owen Hargreaves struggled on his England debut

The first chance looked like great play and Ruud van Nistelrooy should have scored, but when you take a second look at it, Gary Neville is nowhere near the rest of the back four and is playing him onside.

Then Ashley Cole's challenge should have brought a penalty, and England could have been three down before they had even got started.

England's overall game plan suffered problems.

The timing of the game - before the start of the Premiership season - meant they may not have been fully fit and able to really play their pressing game, and Holland were better on the ball.

There was not a great deal of balance in the side either, which did not help.

Owen Hargreaves was a case in point.

When I have seen him play he has looked neat and tidy, more of a defensive, destructive player than a constructive one.

Good point

The best bit he had was when a picked the ball up and hit a fantastic pass to David Beckham.

But then he tried to go to the byline, did not have the pace and the ball went out for a goal kick, which summed up his night.

I felt sorry for him. If you're going to play him it has got to be in midfield, not up the left.

But at least there was one good point for England and that was Gary Neville's shot - what a great hit.

But overall, a night of disappointment for Sven Goran Eriksson and England.