Fabio Capello is convinced his England team are on the right track despite suffering the first defeat of his 10-week reign against France.
The England boss saw goalkeeper David James bring down Nicolas Anelka in the first half at the Stade de France to allow Franck Ribery to score the only goal of a match in which David Beckham won his 100th cap.
It was a carbon copy of the penalty given away by James the last time England played France at Euro 2004, except that time it was Thierry Henry who was upended.
Capello, however, was upbeat.
He said: “I saw some very good things against a top-level team. That showed me what our worth is.”
The 61-year-old Italian insisted the display, even in defeat, was superior to the one which beat Switzerland 2-1 in his first game in charge at Wembley last month.
And he maintained he was delighted with the performance of Beckham, who was replaced by David Bentley after 63 minutes and received a standing ovation from the entire stadium.
Capello has said he believes 32-year-old Beckham can play for his country right through to the World Cup finals in 2010 and he praised him for a performance which saw him join an exclusive club which also comprises Billy Wright, Sir Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore and Peter Shilton.
Beckham played from the start and received a yellow card in the first half for tugging the shirt of Ribery after the Bayern Munich star had raced away from him.
He might have scored when he failed to connect with an Ashley Cole cross after just 14 minutes and he also played the pass of the match, a raking 50-yarder straight to the feet of Steven Gerrard.
Capello said he substituted Beckham only so that he could take a look at Bentley against top-rated opposition.