THREE days have passed since our gut-wrenching defeat at the hands of the French and I still can't quite understand how we managed to blow it.

But Zinedine Zidane's late heroics may just turn out to be the wake-up call we need after all the ridiculous hype surrounding England's preparations for Euro 2004.

To be honest, I thought our game plan was absolutely superb on Sunday night, even though we eventually lost out to France in the most cruel circumstances imaginable.

The way Sven Goran Eriksson used the more experienced players was very clever and I thought we struck the right balance between keeping things tight at the back and trying not to be too cavalier going forward.

Ledley King, in particular, was outstanding and he deserves to keep his place in the starting line-up tomorrow against Switzerland, even if John Terry is fit to return.

Wayne Rooney was also stunning, too, and he had the French running scared at times.

If Eriksson did make a mistake then it was to take the teenager off in the closing stages because we suddenly lost all our attacking impetus after that.

But enough of the inquests. We've got to put that behind us now. We can still take a lot of positives from a good performance against the best team in the world.

It's going to be tough but I still believe we'll qualify from here, then anything can happen in the knockout stages.

If we continue to defend like we did for the first 89 minutes against France then we've no reason to fear anyone.

Eriksson has a big decision to make if Paul Scholes doesn't make the cut against the Swiss.

Nicky Butt is definitely out, and although the news for Scholes is a bit brighter today, it would leave the England boss with a massive headache if the Manchester United midfielder misses the match.

As fans debate who should step into the breach on the left out of Owen Hargreaves, Kieron Dyer and Joe Cole, let me put forward an alternative solution.

For me, the logical move would be to bring Wayne Bridge in at left-back and push Ashley Cole further forward.

When you've got two left-sided players of that calibre in the squad then it makes perfect sense to use them.

Rest assured both players would be up for the challenge.

Bridge, especially, is dying to get into the side and show what he can do after a decent season in the colours of Chelsea.

The big advantage of playing two genuine left-footed players is it would instantly give the team the balance we've been missing.

I thought Cole had an excellent game on Sunday night and he equipped himself well against the dangerous Robert Pires.

And I certainly wouldn't have any qualms about throwing Bridge in, either.

Anyway, let's hope Sven makes the right choice and England get the result they need tomorrow.