Fabio Capello watched his England team slump to a dismal 1-0 defeat against France in the Stade de France and then announced he was "happy" with the performance.
He also praised David Beckham, who won his 100th cap to join a club which also comprises Billy Wright, Sir Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore and Peter Shilton.
Beckham played from the start and true to form in a career which has had its fair share of highs and lows received a yellow card before being replaced just after the hour mark by Blackburn's David Bentley.
Capello also saw goalkeeper David James bring down Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka to allow Franck Ribery to score the game's only goal from the penalty spot.
Capello, however, insisted the performance was better than the 2-1 victory against Switzerland at Wembley last month.
He said: "I told the players I am happy we made progress compared to Switzerland, even though we won that game.
"I'm happy I saw some very good things against a top-level team. That showed me what our worth is."
Capello made four substitutions at half-time, John Terry being replaced by Joleon Lescott and Stewart Downing coming on for Joe Cole, Peter Crouch for Gerrard and Michael Owen for Wayne Rooney.
It was Owen's first action under Capello but he had little opportunity to demonstrate the goalscoring form he has shown recently for Newcastle.
Capello also switched formations, changing the lone striker role played by Rooney and partnering Owen and Crouch.
He said: "I made the team play two different ways so I could see many players. My ideas are now a lot clearer."
He also maintained that he substituted Beckham, who picked up his booking for tugging the shirt of Ribery, only so that he could take a look at Bentley against top-rated opposition.
Capello said: "I'm very happy about David Beckham. He played like I know how he can play. I only substituted him because I wanted to see other players and I know Beckham as a player very well."
The most pleasing aspect for Capello was the way the side refused to give in, even though they were outplayed for long periods by a French side missing several of their biggest stars, including Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Karim Benzema and Louis Saha.
He said: "I'm happy that the team showed they didn't want to lose the game. They played right to the end. This was most positive thing considering the level of the opponent.
"Anelka and Ribery showed pace for them but I think we had more pace in the first half. We slowed down a bit though in the second half."
Capello also revealed that his plans suffered a late hitch when Frank Lampard fell ill at the team hotel.
Meanwhile David Beckham does not want it to be 100 and out after racking up a century of England caps in Wednesday night's 1-0 defeat by France in Paris.
The midfielder started the match on the right side of midfield and put in some trademark crosses before he was replaced by David Bentley in the second half and came off to a standing ovation.
"I'm very honoured," Beckham told Sky Sports 1. "Straight from when I started playing for England I never dreamed I'd get 100 caps, and hopefully beyond.
"I'm happy but like I said during the week I want to carry on. Of course things can change but I want to carry on playing for my country."
This was the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder's first competitive match of the year because Major League Soccer is still in the off-season, and Beckham was pleased with his showing.
"I've proved my fitness, that's the biggest thing," he added. "We're not into our season yet but I felt great, I felt a lot better than I thought I would."
The 32-year-old is now only eight caps short of World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore, who holds the record for most appearances by an outfield player.
Beckham, though, claimed his focus is not on trying to beat Moore, saying: "Just to go over the 100 mark is a proud moment.
"To be up there with Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Billy Wright and Peter Shilton, I'm honoured to be in that company."
France coach Raymond Domenech was satisfied with his team's performance, but criticised their final ball.
"I wanted a tough match against a top-class team and I got it," he said.
"The English showed some good things and it was more of a thinking man's game than a spectacular one.
"But we did what he had to and leave here on solid ground.
"We could have had more imagination up front. Especially in the second half, we lost the ball a little too quickly and we were wasteful with our passing.
"The last pass we wanted to make did not go where we wanted."
