England experiment salvaged by Smith

Friendly International: England 1 Portugal 1 Rash of substitutions devalues match and suggests that national coach remains in thrall to Premiership clubs

As pouring rain chilled the preliminaries to Saturday's friendly international at Villa Park it seemed a long way, in every sense, from England's last match in the broiling heat of Shizuoka.

Less than two hours later, as Portugal's technicians played a leisurely game of keep-ball while England chased in vain, the recollection was painfully pin-sharp. The links between Portugal and Brazil, England's conquerors in that World Cup quarter-final, are manyfold and it seemed only the shirt colours were different as Nuno Capucho, Hugo Viana and Costinha filled the roles occupied in Japan by Rivaldo, Kleberson and Gilberto Silva.

In normal circumstances, when the game is drifting away from a side, as it was from England on Saturday and did in June, the manager will try and wrest it back with some judicious substitutions. In the World Cup, Eriksson's changes, as he admitted himself last week, were ineffectual. On Saturday we saw one reason why. So spurious and plentiful are his substitutions in friendlies he, and the team, are unable to develop one of the key elements of the modern game. "Normally I change the whole team, today it was only seven players," he said afterwards in mitigation, like a nicotine addict boasting he was down to only 20 fags a day. Portugal replaced the whole team but this was a new coach looking at players, not one in his 21st match. "Obviously I will not make so many substitutions when we get near Euro 2004," said Agostinho Oliveira.

The raft of English substitutions suggests Eriksson remains in thrall to the Premiership managers – the quartet withdrawn at half-time represented a player each from the domestic game's powerhouses. Only Emile Heskey, of England's Champions' League combatants, played the whole match.

Some changes were valid. One television pundit ridiculed the use of Owen Hargreaves at right-back. Clearly, he was unaware that Hargreaves has been playing full-back for Bayern Munich and, in the continued absence of Gary Neville and Wes Brown, represented a valid alternative to Danny Mills. Ferdinand and Butt suffered minor knocks while Eriksson wished to look at David Dunn, who he described as "a very good, very creative player." Which made one wonder why the Blackburn midfielder was omitted from the original squad.

Ashley Cole's withdrawal was less logical, unless Eriksson was so concerned by the positional lapses Simão exploited that he is considering promoting Wayne Bridge above him. Either way he missed an opportunity to try Cole on the left flank of midfield.

The mass of substitutions so devalued the game that club managers could justifiably question its value. More seriously, using all available outfielders by the 62nd minute meant that Eriksson was unable to replace Dunn when he picked up a calf injury. Watching Dunn limp through the last half-hour will have left Graeme Souness, Dunn's club manager at Blackburn, simmering. "We asked him if he wanted to come off," said Eriksson lamely. As if Dunn would have said "yes" 20 minutes into his England debut. Sometimes players need protecting from themselves.

Fortunately Alan Smith proved there was a point to this, match with his goal capping an impressive all-round display. Afterwards two predecessors in the national attack, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer, were fulsome in their praise. A former England manager, Glenn Hoddle, added: "He could do the Teddy Sheringham role."

Eriksson said he would be happy to play Smith against Slovakia on 10 October if required. Who actually plays in the qualifier will depend on the injury list. To the 19 men Eriksson had at Villa Park will, injuries permitting, be added David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Sol Campbell, Kieron Dyer and Darius Vassell. It may be too soon for Gary Neville and Robbie Fowler.

Which means some of the new players could be left out, although the squad will also have to cover the 14 October tie against Macedonia. Of the players new to Eriksson, Dunn caught the eye with his aggressive running and neat passing. Lee Bowyer struggled in the initial stages and would have been booked in a serious match but his confidence was lifted by his part in Smith's goal. It was a shame, given his ability to influence the later stages of games, that he did not play the full match. Woodgate is still finding his form at club level and was caught out a couple of times but he has talent and will be better for the game.

The match also reaffirmed the importance of Stephen Gerrard, the excellence of Ferdinand and the confidence Mills has gained from his largely successful World Cup. England, looking sharp, pressed from the first, with Smith and Bowyer prominent. Butt and Bowyer wasted chances then, as half-time approached, James caught a Simão shot and threw the ball to Heskey on the halfway line. The ball was switched via Owen to Bowyer and Smith got ahead of Fernando Meira to head in an excellent cross a la Shearer.

Portugal made nine changes at the interval but the replacements were of high calibre and James made a decent save as Nuno Gomes ran amok, especially from corners. England never did repair their man-marking and, 11 minutes from time, the visitors gained a deserved draw. Costinha stole away from Bridge, who should never have been left to mark such a noted header of the ball, and glanced Viana's corner inside the far post, where Hargreaves missed the ball. England, once again, had faded in the second half and the shiver which ran down Eriksson's spine had nothing to do with the weather.

ENGLAND (4-4-2): James (West Ham Utd); Mills (Leeds Utd), Ferdinand (Manchester Utd), Southgate (Middlesbrough), A Cole (Arsenal); Bowyer (Leeds Utd), Gerrard (Liverpool), Butt (Manchester Utd), Heskey (Liverpool); Smith (Leeds Utd), Owen (Liverpool). Substitutes: Woodgate (Leeds Utd) for Ferdinand, h-t; Bridge (Southampton) for A Cole, h-t; Hargreaves (Bayern Munich) for Mills h-t; Dunn (Blackburn Rovers) for Gerrard, h-t; J Cole (West Ham Utd) for Owen, 62; Sinclair (West Ham Utd) for Bowyer, 62; Murphy (Liverpool) for Butt, 62.

PORTUGAL (3-4-2-1): Vitor Baia (Porto); Fernando Meira (VfB Stuttgart), Fernando Couto (Lazio), Beto (Sporting Lisbon); Sergio Conceicão (Internazionale), Rui Costa (Milan), Petit (Benfica), Rui Jorge (Sporting Lisbon); Figo (Real Madrid), Simão (Benfica); Pauleta (Bordeaux). Substitutes: Ricardo (Boavista) for Baia, h-t; Paulo Ferreira (Porto) for Beto, h-t; Joao Manuel Pinto (Porto) for Fernando Couto, h-t; Nuno Valente (Porto) for Simão, h-t; Costinha (Porto) for Rui Costa, h-t; Capucho (Porto) for Sergio Conceicão, h-t; Viana (Newcastle United) for Figo, h-t; Boa Morte (Fulham) for Rui Jorge, h-t; Nuno Gomes (Benfica) for Pauleta, h-t; Vidigal (Napoli) for Petit, 64; Jorge Silva (Boavista) for Fernando Meira, 75.

Referee: T Ovrebo (Norway).

Man of the match: Smith.