Capello plays a different game; the Prem goes abroad

Leaving Wayne Rooney as the only striker up top was just one of several changes Fabio Capello made in his first England game. Action Images/Icon Smi

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Welcome to the Fabio Capello era. England's players got their first taste of the new headmaster's regime leading up to Wednesday's friendly with Switzerland in a situation reminiscent of the opening half of Full Metal Jacket.

England's $200,000-per-week prima donnas were brought down to earth with a notice board spelling out the class rules:

Cell phones to be only used in bedrooms, no video games, no female company on duty, no mini-bar activity, team blazers or team tracksuits to be worn at all times and meal times to be spent eating together.

Before the squad met up, the tough-talking Capello enforced his hard-line reputation by putting David Beckham on detention for not playing a competitive match since November. Many managers would have given into sentiment and handed the ex-captain his 100th England cap. But the Italian is not that sort of manager, and in dropping a half-fit Beckham, he has shown that he makes decisions for the good of the team.

Capello has made it clear that there are no favorites, and that every player is on an even footing. This is much removed from the Steve McClaren-style love-in regime where the manager looked up to the likes of "JT," "Stevie G" and "Wazza" -- players who knew that their place in the team was assured. Those nicknames are no more with Capello, who insists players be referred to by their surnames.

After laying down the law with the players, and following two torturous girlfriend-, golf- and PlayStation-free days, Capello continued to toy with their minds by not revealing the starting lineup for the Switzerland game until one hour before kickoff.

Only Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry and Joe Cole survived from the humiliation of November's defeat to Croatia in a formation that saw Wayne Rooney on his own up front. David Bentley and Jermaine Jenas were surprise inclusions in midfield.

England was nervous in the first half, and the crowd was becoming restless when Cole tied Swiss right back Stephan Lichtsteiner in knots in the 40th minute and delivered a pinpoint cross through a melee of Swiss defenders for Jenas to score his first goal in a national-team jersey.

The team still had Capello's broken English ringing in its ears from the halftime talk when Swiss striker Eren Derdiyok stunned the home side to make it 1-1. Four minutes later, an impressive run from captain Gerrard set up Shaun Wright-Phillips for the winning goal.

Overall, against a team that counts Arsenal liability Philippe Senderos as one of its stars, England's first performance under Capello was mixed. Rooney was impressive, showing excellent strength on the ball, but despite his renowned shooting ability, he seemed incapable of putting the ball in the back of the net. Cole was outstanding, while Bentley played well in the No. 7 shirt, which will worry a certain observer in Los Angeles.

On defense, Rio Ferdinand and Matthew Upson looked solid. Yet Wes Brown, the surprise inclusion at right back ahead of Micah Richards, seems unable to pass the ball more than five yards. Meanwhile, on the hallowed turf of Wembley, Ashley Cole appeared to be half the player he was 12 months ago in spite of his apparent ease in playing the field away from the marital home.

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