Chasing the goal that would make everything better, Frank Lampard arrowed his free-kick into Israel's congested penalty area, deep in injury time. As 4000 England supporters in the Ramat Gan Stadium and millions more back home held their collective breath, Wayne Rooney tripped and landed on his backside.

Fortunately, no harm was done. The England striker did not get his shorts dirty because, as Lampard was quick to explain after the final whistle, the Tel Aviv pitch was dry and "not the sort we are used to".

Rooney also managed to avoid feeling like a plonker, because it was very much a joint effort. Everyone had a hand in the cock-up.

Rooney and Lampard, Steven Gerrard and John Terry, Owen Hargreaves and Rio Ferdinand, the so-called great and the good of English football, united in mediocrity and seeming ambivalence.

Just as no-one went that extra yard during the game, no-one dropped to their knees at the final whistle stricken with remorse.

Certainly not Rooney, who not so many moons ago would have fought with his own shadow for the good of the England cause. Against a determined, if unspectacular, Israel side, the Manchester United striker showed not even a flicker of the form that captivates Old Trafford on a weekly basis.

High maintenance, surly and unresponsive, Rooney spent much of the first half in self-imposed isolation, rarely in possession, invariably nursing a gripe. For Andy Johnson, making his first England start as an out-and-out striker, it was a nightmare. There was no communication at all between the two. Johnson toiled. Rooney sulked. And England drew another blank.

"We were one goal away from a perfect performance," insisted head coach Steve McClaren (left) at full-time. The howls of derision as the England players stalked off the pitch told a very different tale.

One goal in five games, the worst return in 26 years, toothless England are not a pretty sight. As for perfect?

According to Alan Shearer, pundit on BBC's Match of the Day, all will be well when Michael Owen gets back on his feet. England are just missing that "little bit of spark" up front.

But whatever happened to that giant explosion of possibilities that was the emergence of Rooney in an England shirt? Even allowing for poor service on Saturday, he had a shocker.

Even Andorra have been heartened by the tapes showing their next opponents thumping futile long balls in the direction of a heavily-guarded penalty box.

Despite conceding five goals at Old Trafford last September, Koldo Alvarez, the Andorran goalkeeper, has seen enough of England in recent months to predict a closer exchange in the Nou Camp on Wednesday. "This will be a special match for me," said the 36-year old part-timer.

When asked to put his finger on the problem, Sir Clive Woodward did not beat about the bush. "Talent is not enough," claimed the coach of England's World Cup-winning rugby union side. "Sometimes it is not about putting your best 11 players in a team. You've got to pick those players who are completely obsessive about winning."

McClaren's XI, selected with the nation's blessing on Saturday, are not obsessed with winning. Not in an England shirt. Almost without exception, the players that enjoyed 76% of the possession against Israel and rarely threatened Dudu Aouate's goal save passionate displays for their clubs.

Which leaves McClaren in a fearful predicament. Even the most pessimistic of England observers are unable to envisage anything other than a comfortable win over Andorra this week. After four games, the tiny nation lies at the foot of Group E, battered and bruised, having scored one goal and conceded 19.

But for McClaren, it is not simply a matter of pointing to Sunday's negative headlines and demanding an appropriate response. Because one suspects the majority of his England side will already be thinking ahead to the next game, the one that really matters. The Champions League quarter-finals.