It's taken me the best part of 24 hours to recover enough from the drama of the semi-final to even think about writing a new blog.

My girlfriend loves football and was planning on coming to Sweden to watch the Final, but is so superstitious she didn't want to book her flights until England were through.

At 2-0, I sent her a text saying she should book it. At half time we were finalizing the travel plans. When it went to 3-2 she was convinced she had jinxed the team. It all worked out fine in the end though. I'm not sure if she was more worried about the fact her £300 would have been wasted or the fact England were heading out at one stage...

Runaway success: next stop is Malmo

Once again Stuart Pearce deserves a lot of praise. He's made some big calls in this tournament and most of them were made on instinct. However his approach to penalties over the past two years has dragged English football out of the dark ages. And I'll tell you why. It's one thing to practice them -but it's the analysis and use of statistics and technology that has really impressed me.

Since England were knocked out of the 2007 under-21 Championships on penalties, Pearce seems to have made it a personal goal to conquer whatever, fear, phobia or mental block English players seem to have had in the past when it comes to the shoot-outs.

Analyse

If managers and their staff prepare for a penalty shoot-out the chances are they will look at which opposing players usually shoot to the left, which ones usually shoot to the right etc. Manchester United used an I-pod at the Carling Cup Final and that was pretty advanced. But I wonder how many managers look so closely at their own players?

Stuart has had his coaching staff analyse the success rate in training of all of his players. They could tell you the percentage conversion rate of each and every one. Therefore they know who is most likely to succeed when they step up in a match. They have also studied hundreds of previous shoot-outs to look for important trends, themes and statistics which might help them. They discovered which penalties from the first to the fifth are most significant, and therefore put their strongest guys on those numbers (I'm not going to tell you which ones in case the Germans read this blog!).

One staff member told me, "if a player misses, there is around a 30% greater chance that the next person who steps up will miss too". It puts more pressure on the next guy apparently, and the fact England have put the time, effort and resources into studying this so closely is impressive. It all makes sense when you listen to what they say, so why hasn't this been done before? We look at everything from nutrition, to fitness, to pre-match routines and post-match recuperation but I've never seen such thorough preparation for penalties.

Now Stuart of course has good reason to work so hard on this area of the game. Having lost this way in 2007 as a manager, and at Italia '90 and Euro '96 as a player, he has clearly seen that this as an area which has been neglected in years gone by. In his time as a player, he told me, his managers would ask "who fancies one?" To quote Stuart, "it isn't an exact science". And he's right.

Confidence

The other aspect of England's approach to shoot-outs which impressed me was the fact that players weren't asked if they wanted to take one, they were told they would take one, and in what order. Stuart said he has a list of 1-23 and the only factor to consider is what 11 players are on the pitch at the time of the shoot-out. Hence Joe Hart took our second kick. Goalkeepers aren't normally seen in the first five kicks, but if they're actually good at them, why not send them up early?

If you are told by your manager you are in the top five, psychologically it must give you a boost to your confidence. It's a statement from the manager that you are good enough. Good enough to step up and good enough to score. I think all of those factors paid off for England on Friday night. In fact, I know they did because England won and I can't remember the last time that happened.

We stayed in Gothenburg after the game for a curry. It was the worst one I've ever had. In my life. Ever. We ordered a chicken bhuna, a chicken vindaloo, and a chicken jalfrezi. They all looked the same. Same colour. Same texture. Pretty much the same taste. And if I wanted to, I could take up the title of the "Special" rice with the people who regulate the Swedish version of the Trades Description Act. There was nothing special about it at all.

The first meal I have when I get back will be at my local Indian Restaurant. Other than your Mum's Christmas dinner, there is no meal quite as satisfying as your favourite meal in your favourite curry house. The food in the England team hotel is lovely, but I need a change of diet!

Consistent

At last, I found someone who wanted to watch the rugby with me. It turns out Micah Richards is into it. He used to play a bit of rugby at school apparently and although he's not a massive fan he likes the Lions. The Test match was great entertainment, and for both of us it was nice to see some sporting action that wasn't football. There is a little room in the basement which the hotel have set up for the Sky staff with a big screen and it's our little hideaway. Martin, Alan and I have been watching a few games down there. In fact, as I write this, he is down there watching a DVD copy of Germany v Italy in the other semi-final as part of his preparation for Monday.

I can tell from talking to him that Micah is pleased with his tournament. I think if it wasn't for the amount of goals Marcus Berg has scored in this tournament Micah would be in with a chance of winning the Player of the Tournament award. In my opinion he's been our best, most consistent player here. He won the Finland game at both ends of the pitch, by not only scoring our second goal but also by making a vital clearance late on. He was also brilliant against Spain when they were threatening, and then last night he played well under difficult circumstances (he was one yellow card away from missing the Final at kept his composure under the close scrutiny of the referee).

Micah didn't look so composed when he was interviewed by the crew from Sweden's TV4 though. He was doing fine until Adam Johnson and Martin Cranie crept up behind him, threw two blankets over his head, and tipped his chair upside down. Live on TV! There has to be time to relax and muck around for these lads and for the whole time I've been here the balance has been perfect. It's just a shame Micah lost his in front of the Swedish viewers!

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