Apart from the traffic, the Germans simply adore it in London — and who can blame them? They have taken to travelling around on the Tube and have not lost in the city for nearly four decades.

Neither have their reserves. They will be applying for Oyster cards next.

Sadly for England there is little consolation in this defeat. They have been humbled again by their old rivals and failed to score a goal in 180 minutes at Wembley. They escaped the sort of embarrassment suffered in Bloemfontein but were beaten by a team which would be flattered to be considered Germany’s second string.

Unlike the lesson from Chile on Friday, this did not come with a handy excuse, although the manager groped around at a few bizarre things like Steven Gerrard’s fitness and his team being ‘not at their tallest’. England were near full strength but Germany’s reserves defended better, they kept the ball better, they won it back quicker.

They posed greater threat from many more different areas of the pitch, especially once they had taken the lead and the game opened up.

It will only intensify the pain for Roy Hodgson that the decisive act was not a flash of brilliance but a firm and simple header by Per Mertesacker that came after England had failed to defend properly from corners.

Until Mertesacker struck, Hodgson’s defence had been fairly solid. Joe Hart responded well to his personal challenge but although England stifled their opponents successfully during the opening phases, they lacked creativity on the ball around the fringes of the box.

Once behind, however, Hodgson took more risks and his players operated with more freedom. They started to appear increasingly vulnerable at the back and Hart made several excellent saves to prevent the visitors extending their lead.

Andros Townsend thumped a 25-yarder into the foot of a post but England behaved like the plucky minnows in an FA Cup tie, hoping a lucky strike might earn them an equaliser while riding their luck at the back. Who knows what Joachim Low’s first team might have done in these circumstances?

Hodgson cannot have been impressed by how poorly his defensive unit dealt with the sequence of corner kicks which led to the goal.

This used to be considered an English strength but as the Premier League changes and becomes more technical, perhaps it is among the vanishing art forms.

Hart was required to make a wonderful reflex save to block an initial header by Mertesacker after the big Arsenal centre half beat Chris Smalling to a corner, and then to save the follow-up shot from Max Kruse. From the next corner, Rooney headed clear at the near post but only back to Kroos, who was magnificent throughout, oozing authority without fuss.

The Bayern Munich midfielder delivered another impeccable cross and again Mertesacker nipped ahead of Smalling and Tom Cleverley and this time guided his header between the far post and Hart.

Steven Gerrard attempted to respond instantly with a 25-yard effort which dipped over Roman Weidenfeller and seemed for a split second destined to dip under the bar. Alas, it did not do enough and brushed the roof of the netting. Indeed, Weidenfeller, on his international debut at 33 did not have a save to make all night.

Confronted by the worrying fact his team did not muster a shot on target, Hodgson retorted that at least Townsend had hit the post, and rested his case.

England loosened up in search of an equaliser after half-time but as they began to test the German defence, the visitors found the kind of room they relish on the break.

Low had moaned about the traffic on Sunday night as his team were stuck for 90 minutes between Barnet’s training ground and central London but other things were flowing nicely for the manager in his 101st international.

His team might have scored more. Marco Reus was let down by his touch when he was clear and Kruse wasted a terrific opportunity early in the second half, shooting when he might have passed it, before Hart produced a good block to thwart Reus.

His handling was not flawless but it was a strong display on his first appearance since being dropped by Manchester City last month.

The game disintegrated into an untidy mess of substitutions as Hodgson replaced senior players like Ashley Cole, Gerrard and Wayne Rooney.

Daniel Sturridge stayed on, even though Hodgson said ahead of the game he did not plan to play the Liverpool striker for 90 minutes.

Rooney and Sturridge, in such good touch this season, did not gel and Ross Barkley had more success than anyone in finding a way through the German defence after he came off the bench.

There was nothing much for 85,000 England supporters to cheer but for the effort from Townsend, which does not count as ‘on target’, and Hodgson ends the year with the ignominy of two Wembley defeats. It kills the optimism generated by last month’s victories against Montenegro and Poland and he has become the sixth different manager to try and fail to beat Germany on home soil since Don Revie’s team managed it in 1975.

It should at least keep any fanciful notions in check before the team departs for the World Cup next year.

—Daily Mail