While not exactly going overboard about the defeat of the USA, Fleet Street's finest believe that Steven Gerrard has provided Fabio Capello with a valuable lesson and John Terry has proved he should be captain...
'This was the best of the three performances under Fabio Capello. That was not a major achievement, after the disordered win over Switzerland and the defeat in Paris , but there were aspects here that will hearten the Italian. After a sluggish half-hour, England passed the ball conscientiously. The next friendly, with Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday, will be viewed with interest.
England, sporadically, had looked capable of breaking free and Rooney enjoyed one particularly forthright run, but he was an intermittent force, which is perhaps understandable since he will now have the hernia operation that had been put off for a few weeks.
'Capello can draw more satisfaction from team play than from individual efforts. There were indications of lessons absorbed on the training ground. Gerrard made one clever run to connect with a low free-kick from Beckham, but his effort was headed away by the Fulham player Clint Dempsey' - Kevin McCarra, The Guardian.
'As the season moves towards twilight's last gleaming, a brave new dawn still seems distant for England, although there were glimmers of encouragement for Fabio Capello against the USA. Use Steven Gerrard in his best position was the main lesson Capello learned.
'The key was Gerrard being allowed to break away from the shackles of his left-sided station. With Gareth Barry joining Owen Hargreaves in the boiler room, Gerrard had more licence to attack, and duly glided on to Barry's marvellous pass to give the score-board a better look.
'If Capello gleaned one detail from this friendly it was that England prosper most when a platform is erected for Gerrard to display his undoubted talent. The Liverpool captain, who covered every blade of grass in the second half, was voted man of the match. Capello will surely have noted that Gerrard became most influential when Frank Lampard was removed' - Henry Winter, The Daily Telegraph.
'Fabio Capello's England did their job, too: comfortably, if unspectacularly, although this may become a familiar theme under the new manager. The return to the 4-4-2 system may be the shape of things to come, as well, although it will need better opposition and a bigger occasion than this truly to test it. The game against Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday is unlikely to present much more in the way of a challenge and Capello's decision to leave a number of important players at home suggests that he will use the match to take a look at his in-case-of-emergency team. The one his predecessor, Steve McClaren, tended to get stuck with in crucial games.
'Capello has a match away to Croatia in September and only two more friendly games, plus one competitive walkover against Andorra, to prepare. By the looks of his England team last night he is already on plan B. Having started his term as manager with Wayne Rooney operating as a lone striker, he has now abandoned the idea, convinced that the Manchester United man is better in the supporting role. Steven Gerrard, having begun as Rooney's supporting foil, is now patrolling the left as yet another manager decides he cannot be trusted to hold his position in the heart of midfield' - Martin Samuel, The Times.
'Steven Gerrard scored the second goal having been passed around the midfield like the spare chair - starting on the left wing, moving to the centre and back again. It was a midfield that looked distinctly like a tribute to the Sven Goran Eriksson era: David Beckham, Frank Lampard and Gerrard all thrown into the mix and asked to make it work. No matter how much these England managers try to move on from the so-called golden generation they always seem to go back to them in the end.
'Gerrard must have thought the end to the season could not have got any worse when he watched Manchester United win the Champions League; then he saw the teamsheet last night with his name on the left side of midfield. It begs the question: where next for the Liverpool captain? Eriksson played him as a centre-forward, Steve McClaren shoved him out to the right, Capello has played him up front and now, at 28 and with 66 caps, he is asked to play in a position with which he is completely unfamiliar. It is enough to make a man think about retiring from international football.
'Gerrard could have sulked but, to his credit, he instead made the best of a potentially disastrous night by spraying the ball from the centre of midfield when he could creep in there' - Sam Wallace, The Independent.
'At the end of a long season, however, Rooney looked jaded and even earned a booking last night. The effort was certainly there, but the vision was awry and the touch haphazard. Seven of England's starting line-up had played in that exhausting encounter in Moscow a week earlier, five of them from the start to the finish of the 120 minutes, and although Rooney was withdrawn, much to his evident chagrin, in the 101st minute against Chelsea, he seemed to be suffering the most from the blunting of his edge' - Richard Williams, The Guardian.
'A goal gave Terry the kind of therapy he needed after that horrific climax to last week's Champions League Final. He proved to himself that he possesses the character to bounce back from such a traumatic setback, just as he proved to Fabio Capello that he can lead by example. A timely goal for England's captain for the night if ever there was one.
'Beyond that, however, it was difficult to get too excited. Certain players did well. That 70-yard goal for LA Galaxy last week reminded us what David Beckham does best and he brought that exquisite delivery back to England last night. Not only did he provide the free-kick for Terry's 38th-minute goal but he unleashed a number of other fine balls before being replaced by David Bentley at half-time' - Matt Lawton, The Daily Mail.
'Last night's comfortable 2-0 victory at least ended a catastrophic international season on a vaguely upbeat note. But what else did we learn?
'Not a great deal apart from the fact that, contrary to rumours, David Beckham still has a huge part to play for England under Capello. Whether we agree with this or not is immaterial due to the fact we can do bugger-all about it.
'The perceived opinion was that the new manager would reward the former England captain with his 100th cap for past services rendered and then usher him into international retirement. That no longer holds. Beckham's inclusion last night points to an extended run in the side. At this stage, maybe all the way to South Africa in 2010' - Steven Howard, The Sun.
'Rio Ferdinand will make an admirable international captain and Steven Gerrard would be fine also. But for me, Terry is the main man. Whether playing in training, in a friendly or in competition, from the first minute to the last, he gives everything.
'Terry was back where he belonged last night, wearing the armband, his heart on his sleeve, talking the talk, walking the walk. When Capello decides who will lead England into the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, he should look no farther' - Tony Cascarino, The Times.