Obviously it wasn't the result we had all been hoping for but there were some positives to take out of the performance.
England started very well, particularly during the first 15 minutes, with Steven Gerrard looking much more comfortable playing through the middle than being stuck out wide.
But after going ahead we started to look more exposed, particularly in the centre of midfield. Frank Lampard is not a natural holding player but that is the role he was forced to play with Gerrard continuously bombing on to support the two strikers.
Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey both managed to find space in-front of the back-four on a number of occasions, with Dempsey scoring and Donovan coming close.
Emile Heskey did well up-front but he needs to be dropped so that Gareth Barry can return to protect John Terry and co. Barry has become an integral part of the England side under Fabio Capello and he needs to get games under his belt before we come up against a team of real quality in the knockout stages.
Another player I'd like to come into the team to face Algeria would be Matthew Upson.
I wasn't convinced by Jamie Carragher when he came on in place of the injured Ledley King on Saturday evening. His lack of pace makes the defence look vulnerable at times, as we saw when Jozy Altidore almost put the US in-front in Rustenburg. The other option is Michael Dawson, who had a fine season for Tottenham but is just too inexperienced at international level to be thrown into such an important game.
Upson has a bit more pace than Carragher and although he didn't have the greatest season with West Ham, he played well alongside Terry during the World Cup qualifying campaign.
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