Sven is right to experiment, but this formation won't last

This England performance was better than the 4-1 debacle in Denmark, but it never had a chance of surpassing the pre-match entertainment.

Welsh rappers Goldie Lookin' Chain obviously have a keen sense of humour to begin with, and when they performed their new single 'Your Missus Is A Nutter' on the pitch they cheekily dedicated it to the watching Victoria Beckham. Somewhere not too far away Sven and Nancy must have breathed a silent sigh of relief.

The rest of England joined in 90 minutes later, when the final whistle ended Wales's frantic search for an equaliser. Sven-Goran Eriksson had threatened it might not be pretty, and he was not wrong. It was a far from ringing endorsement of the new formation, and one moment of penetration from Joe Cole and the lively Shaun Wright-Phillips could not disguise the fact that England appear to have mislaid their momentum.

According to David Beckham, the England manager can be ruthless and not even the captain or the suspended leading scorer can regard himself safe from the axe. This is not always how it has appeared under Eriksson or how the latest reshuffle was being interpreted.

It is one thing being ruthless with the likes of Jermain Defoe, just four starts and one goal before speaking out of turn on being withdrawn early in Denmark last month, but the rest of the five-man-midfield/solo-striker routine looked suspiciously like Eriksson bending over backwards to accommodate Wright-Phillips without having to drop Beckham. So while there was a certain amount of pressure on Wayne Rooney, being asked to perform an unfamiliar role, and the new right-side combination of Luke Young and Wright-Phillips, the real pressure was on the captain to demonstrate that his new job as a sitter was not just a sinecure.

Wales did not really attack enough to put Beckham's defensive ability to the test, although a couple of first-half glimpses of Ryan Giggs breezing past his former Manchester United team-mate did not inspire the utmost confidence. Beckham did manage to tackle John Hartson in the area on one occasion, and tracked back to block a run from Richard Duffy just before the interval. But there are other defenders in the squad capable of doing that and one assumes Eriksson wants to see something more creative from his captain.

Beckham dutifully stayed behind the ball all through the first half and cut down as promised on the Hollywood passes, but the main effect was to show England what they were missing. Neither Frank Lampard nor Steven Gerrard was providing much midfield inspiration, and when Beckham did become a little adventurous it almost brought results. One threaded through-ball for Wright-Phillips almost was weighted to perfection, and a better finisher than Joe Cole would have put England ahead with a far-post header on the stroke of half-time. Beckham was on the right wing only because he was trotting back from taking a corner, yet when the ball came his way he effortlessly provided England's most telling cross of the game up to that point.

It is fair to say the new formation did not appear to be playing to the captain's strengths, and there were at least five others in the same boat. In practice the 4-5-1 formation turned out to be much more of a Chelsea-type 4-3-3, with Joe Cole and Wright-Phillips playing almost level with Rooney. Trouble is, those three players put together do not amount to a target man of the stature of Didier Drogba or the aerial ability of Hernan Crespo, and the first quarter of the game saw a steady succession of crosses from the flanks sailing over the heads of England's diminutive forwards. Rooney also faced a fairly thankless task in jumping for high balls with the taller Danny Gabbidon and Robert Page, and predictably found his opportunities to run at defenders limited when playing in such an advanced position with his back to goal. There is no doubt that running at defenders and attacking space is what Rooney does best, and England's best opportunity of the first half-hour came when Gerrard intercepted and played a one-two with the Manchester United man that carved the Welsh defence open to such an extent that Danny Coyne was relieved to get in the way of the eventual shot.

Surprisingly, Eriksson did not make any changes for the second half, not even positional ones. He remained calm when Giggs danced between Beckham and Young within a minute of the restart to create a shooting opportunity. Jamie Carragher did well to block.

A poor first touch from Joe Cole then wasted a decent England chance. So England's sphinx-like manager must have been delighted when his side took the lead after 54 minutes through a classy combination of a Hollywood pass from Beckham, a good cross from his new right-winger and sharp finishing in front of goal from Joe Cole. With one bound Eriksson was free, at least until the next time, though Michael Owen will be back for the game against Northern Ireland on Wednesday, so England can revert to 4-4-2 if they so wish.

Eriksson is right to examine different options - he gets criticised for inflexibility when he does not - and there is no reason why England cannot play 4-5-1 with Owen as the solo striker. The evidence of this laboured victory suggests Rooney's talents are wasted in the position, and though the striker did not look particularly chuffed he must have been glad to be pulled back into midfield when Defoe came on for the last 20 minutes. With Lampard, Gerrard and Beckham not really imposing themselves either, and Giggs in particular breaching the midfield with ease, Eriksson must be aware that experiments against weaker home nations do not count for much. In the World Cup finals, this England line-up will be seen about as often as Wales or Northern Ireland.