As England eventually romped to a 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan, how depressing to hear Clive Tyldesley resort to that lowest common denominator of sports commentary - the first person plural."We're playing with fear in midfield," he trilled. "That dreaded F-word is back" and "our passing is not sharp enough just yet."
And then shock of shocks, we reached half time and the otherwise respectable Steve Rider was at it too, though marginally more appropriately: "Will there be goals for England in the second half? We had better hope so," he enthusiastically intoned.
Really, Steve. You should know better. Viewers might expect it from Sam Allardyce, but from you?
Of course, the idea behind straying away from the previously-dreaded "we" is impartiality. And a sound basis to launch apparently unbiased criticism.
ITV have apparently decided that the interests of their viewers - most of whom are doubtless peddlers of the first-person plural themselves when watching England play football - would be best served by mimicry.
Perhaps it is even an effort to buoy Rio Ferdinand's England team. By suggesting that "we" are all in this together and that "we" must work much harder in midfield commentators can expand the realms of the England football team into living-rooms up and down the country. That'll help bang in the goals.
But then, perhaps this is a deeply unfair criticism. After all, the England football team operate much like consumers in economic downturn - they are spooked by what people say about them. When Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, tells people that people aren't spending money because they're worried about the credit crunch, people duly stop spending money because they're worried about the credit crunch.
Likewise, when Clive Tyldesley tells his audience - which apparently includes the players - that "we're playing with fear," over and over and over again, lo and behold Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and even Theo Walcott play with fear.
So perhaps Clive and co really are part of the team. They certainly appear to do as much to affect England's play as Fabio Capello can.
