Nicolas Anelka today admitted he was surprised by England's negative approach and insisted France found it easy to hand Fabio Capello his first defeat as manager.

Anelka caused problems for England's defence throughout and won the penalty which settled the game when he ran behind Chelsea teammate John Terry and was fouled by David James. The Chelsea striker revealed the French players were shocked by England's lack of ambition and said they were to blame for such a dull game.

He said: "From the moment we scored, we waited to see if they were going to attack or not, but the English did not leave their defensive positions and that was why the match was like that.

"It was a very good match for us and the victory was deserved. England is a big team, even though they won't be at Euro 2008, but the match had a lack of rhythm. For the penalty, I arrived before the keeper and he could do nothing else but bring me down otherwise I would have scored."