As flat as the top of Table Mountain. That just about sums up the football played by England so far at this World Cup.

For vast swathes of their goalless draw against Algeria at the Green Point Stadium England looked like strangers, writes Frank Malley.

No imagination. No sense of purpose. No ideas. No chance of winning this World Cup.

Yes, they can still go through to the next round in the tightest of groups. But they will have stumbled there. The boos from disappointed England fans which resounded around this stadium were of bewilderment as much as displeasure.

What has happened to England? Where is the passion and the belief which took them through such an impressive qualifying campaign in which they won nine out of their 10 matches?

What has happened to Fabio Capello's magic touch?

It appears to have evaporated.

Wayne Rooney, after so many niggling injuries, looks frustrated. Out of sorts. Anything but the player who was supposed to cement his legend at this tournament.

Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard have played a combined total of more than 150 matches for their country and yet barely look on nodding terms.

And if England fans thought Gareth Barry was the answer they did not understand the question.

Okay, the good news. There were no more goalkeeping blunders.

During the week since Robert Green had made his howler against the USA, Capello had voiced support for the West Ham goalkeeper, but when it came down to it he was ruthless.

Green and naivety out. David James and experience in. And James did all right, although he was barely tested. It was not the number one Capello needed to worry about this time. It was numbers two to 21, the latter being worn by Emile Heskey, who had one of those matches he frequently has for Aston Villa. Anonymous. Feeble.

The first half, in particular, was everything we have come to expect from England in first halves.

Disjointed. Slow. Cumbersome. As imaginative as the England band which belted out the same old tried and tested tunes from the first minute. 'Escape to Victory'. They struggled to cope with the technical efficiency of Algeria. The Algerians caress the ball. They create pretty patterns. They play football.

In short, at times they ran rings around England.

Thankfully, they do not possess a striker with the power or the penetration to convert their tidy approach play into goals.

Even so it was as well Barry, recovered at last from his ankle injury, was alert on a couple of occasions when Portsmouth's Hassan Yebda threatened to get on the end of dangerous crosses.

England's problem is as old as the mountains in this dramatic part of Africa. They treat possession like a two-for-one offer at Tesco. Something to give away.

They have never learned to treasure the football. It makes the game hard work, both for the players and the spectators.

When Wayne Rooney is tracking back frequently into the centre circle just to get a feel of the football you know Plan A is not working as it should.

No rhythm. No tempo. No sign that Capello's men are growing in this tournament.

Instead they were reduced to long-range shooting. From Barry and Gerrard and Rooney, who all had pot-shots which were gathered comfortably by the Algerian goalkeeper.

True, there was one moment when Frank Lampard did what he does so often for Chelsea, that is steal into the penalty area unnoticed to get on the end of a cross. He met it 12 yards out with a swing of his left foot and by rights it should have been nestling in the bottom corner rather than in the arms of the keeper.

But there were too few of those moments. Too few times when England sliced open opposition who had lost their first match to Slovenia and who tired significantly in the final quarter.

Yes, England looked livelier when Jermain Defoe replaced Heskey for the last 20 minutes. Yes, they pressed forward as they always do when strength and power begins to hold sway over technical efficiency.

But they did not deserve to win this match, which was watched by the royal princes, William and Harry.

They did deserve the boos which greeted then near the end when Lampard dragged another shot hopelessly wide.

The equation now is simple. It is the tightest of groups but the result means England now have to beat Slovenia in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday to go through to the next round. That they are still in it is the good news.

The bad news is that at the moment it is hard to see where England's next win is coming from.

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