The media were overwhelmingly positive about England's emphatic victory over Northern Ireland. Given the state of the national team, a convincing win was exactly what the country had needed.
That did not stop the more serious newspapers and analysts from looking beyond the scoreline. Their conclusions were not always flattering, but most were offered in the hope that England could learn from what had happened.
Martin Samuel was among the most critical.
In his column, he described the match as sixty minutes of New Manchester United football followed by half an hour of the England everyone had become accustomed to seeing. Without Beckham, Terry and Curtis providing stability, he wondered whether the final stages might have looked very different.
"These players have accumulated enormous experience in the Premier League, but experience alone does not make a possession side," Samuel wrote. "The final half-hour made that painfully clear. Beckham was trying to slow the game down and restore control, while too many of his teammates simply kept charging forward with no thought for what happened if possession was lost."
One sequence in particular illustrated the problem.
Whenever the ball circulated between Beckham, Terry and Curtis, England generally retained possession without difficulty. But once the ball moved beyond that triangle, it often disappeared within another pass or two.
"That should concern England," Samuel continued. "Everyone understands how difficult it can be to regain possession once you surrender it, yet our players were giving the ball away as though it did not matter."
"Northern Ireland were not strong enough to punish England for it. But what happens against Spain? Portugal? Brazil? Argentina? Anyone talking seriously about winning a World Cup should probably ask whether every opponent on the way to the final is going to be as forgiving as Northern Ireland."
Samuel's argument reflected a wider concern among analysts.
England still lacked a clearly defined footballing identity.
For years, the national team had remained attached to a traditional 4-4-2. Increasingly, though, many coaches believed that approach left too little control in central midfield against modern systems built around numerical superiority and possession.
The evidence could be seen throughout the Premier League.
Arsenal, currently top, regularly used Gilberto Silva and Patrick Vieira as the base of a midfield structure that could resemble a 4-2-3-1.
Manchester United, sitting close behind them, shifted between shapes such as 4-1-4-1 and 4-3-3, but the underlying principle was similar: they wanted numbers and control through midfield.
New Manchester United needed little explanation. Mourinho's teams had used a five-man midfield structure, in one form or another, since the club's lower-league years. Some now viewed that as evidence that the Red Rebels had recognised the direction of modern football earlier than most.
Liverpool were moving the same way under Rafael Benítez. He had brought many of the principles that had worked for him at Valencia, using wide players who dropped into midfield and helped create a five-man unit without the ball.
By comparison, several sides still relying heavily on a conventional 4-4-2, including Aston Villa, Newcastle, Blackburn and Tottenham, had endured disappointing starts to the season. Newcastle and Blackburn in particular had spent time uncomfortably close to the bottom of the table.
Samuel's conclusion was straightforward.
"England cannot assume that a shape is still right simply because it once defined English football. The modern game is increasingly decided by who controls midfield. England need a coherent system that reflects that reality. Otherwise, even if they recover and qualify for the World Cup, they may find themselves exposed as soon as they face the best teams."
The Times, The Guardian and several other major publications reached similar conclusions from different angles.
Almost everyone agreed that Beckham's first sixty minutes back in an England shirt had been outstanding. His control of the game, the speed with which England moved between defence and attack, and the balance he gave Gerrard and Lampard represented one of the national team's most convincing midfield performances in years.
The final half-hour was another matter.
By then, the scoreline had gone to the players' heads. Tactical discipline disappeared, and too many began chasing personal moments instead of continuing to play within the structure.
"Beckham was the outstanding player on the pitch," one report argued. "He did not score, but his return to central midfield changed the entire side. Eriksson's next task should be obvious: build on what worked rather than dragging Beckham back into the role that frustrated him in the first place."
Beckham himself refused to be drawn into the celebration.
"The first sixty minutes and the last thirty were part of the same match," he told reporters. "We won, and that was the important thing. There's still plenty we can improve."
Asked about his role in midfield, he smiled and shook his head.
"I don't worry about labels. The manager tells me what he wants from me and I try to do it. I've never been interested in making myself the special case in the team."
Then came another question.
What did he make of the growing calls for Curtis to replace Rio Ferdinand permanently in central defence?
"Curtis is an outstanding young player," Beckham said. "He's got tremendous energy and he's improving all the time. John is excellent as well, very composed and very reliable. They know each other's games inside out because they play together every week."
He paused.
"But Rio is a top-class centre-back who's proved himself for England and at club level for years."
"So who should start?"
Beckham laughed.
"Either of them could."
Terry, Curtis and Rio Ferdinand all gave variations of the same diplomatic answer when they were asked.
On individual ability and experience, Terry and Ferdinand still had the stronger reputations. Curtis was only nineteen, and although he had already been a regular for New Manchester United for some time, there were still moments when his youth showed.
What Curtis offered, however, was chemistry.
His partnership with Terry had been built over countless club matches, and the final half-hour against Northern Ireland had shown how instinctively the pair covered for one another.
Just as importantly, Curtis understood Beckham.
He knew when to step forward, when to offer himself as a safe outlet and when to return possession quickly enough for Beckham to keep directing the next phase of play.
That familiarity had real tactical value.
With Terry, Ferdinand and Curtis all competing for places, England also had considerable depth behind them. Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate and Sol Campbell remained established Premier League centre-backs in contention, which meant the competition for defensive places was becoming increasingly fierce.
For all the influence New Manchester United now had on England's spine, the club still did not provide many senior internationals beyond Beckham, Terry and Curtis.
There were five English players in the Red Rebels' first-team squad.
Ishmael Miller and Michael Johnson were still young. Both had already represented England at youth level, with Michael Johnson even captaining one of the age-group sides, but neither was yet established enough for the senior team.
Johnson's route looked particularly difficult because of the competition in central midfield.
England were hardly short of options there. Gerrard and Lampard were already established internationals, while Joe Cole, Gareth Barry, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick all offered different qualities.
Johnson, developed entirely within New Manchester United's academy system, had nevertheless attracted considerable attention.
He covered enormous ground, tackled well, intercepted intelligently and had a habit of arriving late around the penalty area. His long-range shooting and set pieces were major strengths, while his passing range and understanding of tempo were unusually advanced for his age.
Some scouts had already labelled him the "new Gerrard."
Others believed his long-term future might lie closer to Beckham's role.
There were even suggestions that, given enough time, the two might eventually play together in a midfield built around dual playmaking responsibilities.
That remained a discussion for the future.
Whatever his potential, Johnson was unlikely to be ready to start for England before the 2006 World Cup.
Ishmael's path to the senior side looked more immediate.
Emile Heskey had fallen out of favour under Eriksson, while Peter Crouch remained inconsistent. Ishmael, meanwhile, had impressed both for New Manchester United and for England's youth sides.
Eriksson was watching him closely.
The young striker had an unusual combination of qualities. He was tall and powerful, but also quick over the ground and surprisingly agile. His technique was good, he attacked crosses aggressively and he finished well. He could also strike the ball ferociously from dead-ball situations.
His obvious weakness was experience.
Mourinho had been giving him more opportunities that season, particularly in the League Cup, while also using him from the bench in the Premier League and Champions League. His performances had been encouraging enough that some within English football were already describing him as a more technically polished version of Drogba.
It was extravagant praise, but it reflected how highly he was regarded.
The Red Rebels' influence did not end with the first team.
Several academy and development players were already involved with England's younger age groups.
Joe Hart and Micah Richards, both out on loan at Droylsden, had established themselves as regular starters there and earned youth international recognition.
Theo Walcott, Jack Rodwell and Jack Wilshere had progressed even faster.
All three had been moved into England's under-15 setup despite being younger than many of the players around them. Technically, they were already among the strongest in their age group, and all three had shown they could become important players even against slightly older opposition.
Some within the FA had begun referring to that generation as the first real test of England's new development philosophy.
The 2010 World Cup might come too soon for most of them.
By 2014, however, the hope was that the benefits of the country's reforms would begin to show far more clearly.
Two days after England's victory, New Manchester United returned to Premier League action and suffered another frustrating afternoon.
They were held 1-1 away at Norwich.
Beckham had played the full ninety minutes for England and failed the club's fitness requirements for the match, so Mourinho left him in Manchester.
Fàbregas started in his place.
The young Spaniard never really settled. Norwich played with extraordinary intensity, pressing and competing for every loose ball as though their season depended on it, and Fàbregas found himself dragged into a match with little rhythm.
Kaká eventually gave the Red Rebels the lead shortly before half-time.
Early in the second half, however, Norwich capitalised on a defensive mistake and then made the most of the resulting set piece to equalise.
Mourinho reacted aggressively.
Ishmael and Messi were among those introduced as New Manchester United threw players forward in search of a winner.
The chances came.
The goal did not.
The Red Rebels struck the woodwork three times, had one effort disallowed and were frustrated by three extremely tight offside decisions.
By the final whistle, the score was still 1-1.
It was only New Manchester United's second league draw of the season.
Fortunately for Mourinho, Arsenal also dropped points at home against West Bromwich Albion. Manchester United and Chelsea both won, however, leaving the Red Rebels third and allowing Chelsea to close the gap behind them.
There was at least one milestone worth noting.
New Manchester United's unbeaten Premier League run had now reached 52 matches.
Only six more stood between them and the 58-match benchmark set by Fabio Capello's AC Milan.
With first place in their Champions League group already secured, Mourinho could now devote greater attention to the league.
And one fixture was already attracting more attention than any other.
December 4.
Old Trafford.
Manchester United against New Manchester United.
(To be continued.)
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