Fabio Capello has revealed that he knew during the pre-match warm-up that England were destined to produce a dismal performance against Wales on Tuesday night.
It was a quite startling admission from a man paid £6million each year to galvanise the team's fortunes, not least because it appears he was totally powerless to do anything about it.
Capello made ending his players' fear of Wembley one of his first tasks after replacing Steve McClaren in 2007.
That work appeared to have been done during qualification for the last World Cup, when England collected a maximum of 15 points on home turf.
But they ended last season on the back of a four-match winless streak at the national stadium and only ended that run against a Welsh side ranked 117th in the world thanks to Robert Earnshaw's unbelievable second-half miss.
"We train very well. Everything is perfect," Capello said.
"The players are really good. Then, when we are here (Wembley), it is different. We need to find a solution.
"When I go to the pitch before the game, I like to see the warm-up. During my career I have sometimes understood a lot of things because of what happened in the warm-up."
On this occasion, the signs were undeniably bad.
"It is between the players and me but yes," said Capello, when asked if he knew England were in for a difficult evening.
"I know. It is my job. I know the players."
Capello might have done something about the situation when his players returned to the dressing room for their final pre-match briefing.
"I tried. I spoke with the players but it was impossible to change the things that I saw. Impossible," he said.
But according to Capello that was not because it was too late.
"No. No. No," he said. "The problem was here," added Capello, pointing to his head.
As Capello refused to reveal the source of England's fundamental problem, speculation surrounds two areas.
First, and most obvious, is trepidation.
As Capello noted almost four years ago, players apparently so self-assured in every other facet of their life shrivel when faced with the mighty expectation of their supporters.
Even though Wembley was not full last night, an attendance in excess of 75,000 was way beyond that of any other country in action across Europe.
Yet, at the time Capello made his mental assessment, barely half the seats were occupied, hardly a situation of terror.
The other theory would be that the English players were too relaxed, lulled into a false sense of security by Friday's three-goal win in Bulgaria, and unable to apply themselves properly to the game plan Capello wanted to see implemented.
It is an attitude that ties in with the England coach's assessment of the performance, a day after he berated one member of his squad for forgetting instructions handed out at a team meeting on Sunday and sending a throw-in down the touchline.
"Sometimes it is incredible to understand why," he said.
"I have said before, as a manager, as a player, there are times when I never understood what really happened.
"We played well for 20 minutes. Why can't we play the same (for the whole game)? I don't understand."
He added: "The result was really good. The most important thing. But we need to speak about some things."
It seemed like a warning for what is to come when the build-up starts to the meeting with Montenegro in Podgorica on October 7, when a draw is required to seal England's place at the finals in Poland and Ukraine next summer.
Capello is adamant it would be a mistake to play for a point.
And he has no intention of adopting a cautious approach, even though many of his fellow Italian coaches would do so.
"No," he said. "It is not my style to be cautious.
"For this game (against Wales) I decided on one midfielder in front of the defence and one in front to help Wayne Rooney to get in front of the goal.
"This did not happen."
