Last updated: 20th November 2008
Capello: Happy with progress
England manager Fabio Capello has conceded he could not have imagined a better year following Wednesday's 2-1 friendly success over Germany.
The experienced Italian tactician has now been at the Three Lions helm for 10 games and has tasted defeat just once - against France in March.
More importantly, England have made a blistering start to their World Cup qualifying campaign having won all four of their matches to date.
Capello was not expecting an overnight change after succeeding Steve McClaren at the start of the year and he has been pleased with the gradual improvement over the course of his tenure.
"I cannot have imagined a better year in charge. I think it would have been impossible to be better than this," he admitted.
"We've played 10 games and, after every game, I've seen the players taking another step forward.
"Against Germany, I saw another step forward because a lot of players played very, very well.
"Like a team. This is very important for me, very important. It's perfect."
Both England and Germany used Wednesday's friendly to give younger players a chance to stake their claim for a regular berth and Capello felt it was an interesting encounter.
"I think it was an interesting game for Germany because they played new players from their squad," he continued.
"The same for us. I saw some players who have not played a lot of games under me.
"I said yesterday I had confidence in my team because the players know what I want from them during the game, what they have to do.
"We played very well, with confidence. All the players used good technique."
| Time | Fixture |
|---|---|
| Saturday 10th January | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 12:45 | Aston Villa vs West Brom |
| 15:00 | Arsenal vs Bolton |
| 15:00 | Everton vs Hull |
| 15:00 | Fulham vs Blackburn |
| 15:00 | Middlesbrough vs Sunderland |
| 15:00 | Newcastle vs West Ham |
| 15:00 | Portsmouth vs Man City |
| 17:30 | Stoke vs Liverpool |
| Sunday 11th January | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 13:30 | Wigan vs Tottenham |
| 16:00 | Man Utd vs Chelsea |
| Wednesday 14th January | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 20:00 | Man Utd vs Wigan |
| Saturday 17th January | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 15:00 | Blackburn vs Newcastle |
| 15:00 | Bolton vs Man Utd |
| 15:00 | Chelsea vs Stoke |
| 15:00 | Man City vs Wigan |
| 15:00 | Sunderland vs Aston Villa |
| 15:00 | West Brom vs Middlesbrough |
| 17:30 | Hull vs Arsenal |
| Sunday 18th January | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| 13:30 | West Ham vs Fulham |
| 16:00 | Tottenham vs Portsmouth |
| Time | Result |
|---|---|
| Tuesday 30th December | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Hull 0 - 1 Aston Villa | |
| Monday 29th December | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Man Utd 1 - 0 Middlesbrough | |
| Sunday 28th December | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Blackburn 2 - 2 Man City | |
| Fulham 2 - 2 Chelsea | |
| West Ham 2 - 1 Stoke | |
| Everton 3 - 0 Sunderland | |
| Arsenal 1 - 0 Portsmouth | |
| West Brom 2 - 0 Tottenham | |
| Bolton 0 - 1 Wigan | |
| Newcastle 1 - 5 Liverpool | |
| Friday 26th December | |
| Barclays Premier League | |
| Aston Villa 2 - 2 Arsenal | |
| Liverpool 3 - 0 Bolton | |
| Wigan 2 - 1 Newcastle | |
| Middlesbrough 0 - 1 Everton | |
| Man City 5 - 1 Hull | |
| Sunderland 0 - 0 Blackburn | |
| Portsmouth 1 - 4 West Ham | |
| Tottenham 0 - 0 Fulham | |
| Chelsea 2 - 0 West Brom | |
| Stoke 0 - 1 Man Utd | |
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