'I told you so' and 'too little, too late' are two phrases I find myself repeating over and over when I see Fabio Capello's face on television, recently.

'I told you so' because in this blog two months ago, before the World Cup had even kicked off, I implored the England boss to switch from his rigid, inflexible and limiting 4-4-2 formation to a more fluid, more modern, more threatening 4-5-1 - or 4-3-3 – system, that would bring the best out of our blue-ribbon boys.

Forgive me for blowing my own trumpet - it is rare that I am afforded the chance to do so – but on June 3 I wrote: “I, for one, was rapt with excitement at the prospect of an adventurous 4-3-3 formation...that saw Gareth Barry anchoring a midfield trio that also boasted Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, seemingly solving the age-old conundrum of how to fit the talented duo into the same formation, without compromising their natural instincts to get forward.

“The system also deployed two flying wingers in the shape of Theo Walcott and Aaron Lennon either side of Wayne Rooney up front.”

The benefits seemed obvious: release Lampard and Gerrard from their shackles by giving them a workhorse to do the dirty jobs behind them so they don't have to; employ genuine wingers to fly up and down the flanks and provide quality service into the box for a grateful Rooney to lap up.

And now for the 'too little, too late' part.

These were the tactics that should have been adopted during the World Cup in South Africa. Instead, Capello surprised nobody by sticking with his tried and tired 4-4-2, with a frustrated Gerrard ostricised on the left of midfield and Rooney paired with an incompetent Emile Heskey up front.

I did say I was getting that sinking feeling before England had even stepped foot in South Africa, and sure enough we sunk.

So, after getting a royal pasting from the Germans, Capello was castigated, and rightly so. For someone paid £6million a year – the highest wage of any national manager in the world – he had been made to look as if he had never before witnessed a football match.

Finally, in the friendly against Hungary at Wembley yesterday, the Italian conceded he had made some catastrophic tactical and positional errors and went with the formation I have been advocating for so long.

Barry was indeed deployed in the anchorman role, behind Gerrard and Lampard, who were able to push further on.

On the wings Theo Walcott and the exciting Adam Johnson - rather than Lennon - flanked Rooney.

Granted, it wasn't the cakewalk we would all have liked, and at times it was still rather uncomfortable. But, in all, there were far more encouraging signs, especially going forward, than we have seen in some time.

Unsurprisingly, Gerrard was the chief beneficiary of the new system. He was rampant in midfield, and scored two stunning goals; the first a burst through the centre followed by a rasping 20-yard strike into the top corner, and the second a clinical touch inside the box, a wicked turn, a surge of pace and an expert close-range finish. Would we have seen these goals had he played on the left? Absolutely not.

Rooney remained a shadow of the player that banged in 43 goals last season, but as he rediscovers his form, he too will thrive off the service from the likes of Johnson and Ashley Young, who looked dangerous and eager to bombard the penalty box with aerial missiles.

It may have only been Hungary and the performance is not going to send shivers down anybody's spine, but it is a start and a step in the right direction.

I told you so, Fabio. It is too little, too late, but better late than never, eh?