Forget the result – it’s how we play that counts

I WOULD love to see us beat Brazil — but the truth is, I do not really care about the result.

It is the performance I am more concerned with.

I do not care if we lose as long as we go down playing football.

Which, you have to say, is more than we did for most of the game against the Republic of Ireland.

We played some good stuff at times. But it was only in flashes here and there. Not nearly enough.

Knowing Roy Hodgson like I do, I know he would have been a little bit disappointed with his team’s display.

Our play was sluggish and our players looked leggy. Some will say that is only to be expected after a long hard season.

Well, the Ireland players have had just as hard seasons and yet they did not look tired. Quite the opposite in fact.

They looked fitter and fresher than our boys. They were certainly more combative.

I am not saying England did not work hard. But effort is the minimum required.

You need to show more at international level. Much more.

It was an average performance. The manager will know there is work to be done, not least on what his men do when they’re in possession.

When we had the ball we didn’t make the Irish team work.

We must pass faster, rotate the ball around the park quicker.

We’ve got to move our opponents from side to side and out of position, especially when we’re around the halfway line.

Ireland showed we make it too comfortable for teams to defend against us.

If our players are being closed down quickly then they need to move the ball even quicker and make opponents chase the ball.

Ireland were able to stop us from moving the ball just by keeping a regular shape.

They did not have to work that hard to get the ball off us. Our tempo needs to be much higher.

That is one way we can put teams on the back foot. Be cool by all means, but never casual.

Slicker passing will enable us to dominate the midfield, which is a key to success at any level of football, but especially international.

Defensively we were OK. With the old guard of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand gone, the centre of defence becomes an issue.

It will be interesting to see how the manager handles it and who he plays there.

I did not think it was one of Glen Johnson’s best performances against Ireland.

But what disappointed me most was the fact we did not get Theo Walcott into the game as much as I would have liked.

He has been in sensational form for Arsenal and England did not capitalise on that.

We never utilised his pace against players he runs rings around in the Premier League.

That is because we took so long to get the ball to him.

By the time we put him in possession he was surrounded by green shirts.

The most frustrating thing about all this is that I know we have a manager who wants his players to pass the ball quickly and who would have spent all week coaching his players to do so.

I know Hodgson, like the rest of the nation, will be looking for major improvements against Brazil.

I am pleased this is the second of our two end-of- season friendlies to mark the FA’s 150th anniversary — or the Ireland game might have been a bit of an anti-climax.

Some might say if we could not beat Ireland we will have no chance against the Samba stars in their own backyard.

But England’s players are more than capable of raising their game for this prestige clash.

The way we start the game could be crucial.

You do not just gain confidence from scoring a goal or clearing one off the line.

If we close them down well in the first 10 to 15 minutes that could set the tone for the whole match.

And if we can knock the ball about quicker and more accurately than we did against Ireland then maybe we can get a foothold in the game and show we can compete with the world’s best.