Joe Hart did all he could for both the goals. Eric Dier, his wall marker, was in a direct line between the ball and the post.
Somebody tall, Chris Smalling, was next to him and for the first free-kick he even put Harry Kane as an extra on the other side of him. The two players the other side of Dier is absolutely standard.
The goalkeeper positioned himself in line with where the next man would be in the wall, so he had a clear sight of the ball.
That is crucial. If you do not see the ball kicked, by the time it has appeared above the wall it is too late to react.
And you cannot go before – the biggest mistake you can make is to go too early and allow them to score the side you are supposed to be covering.
Scotland players were trying to block his view, as all teams do, but Hart reacted quickly enough.
So how did Griffiths manage to score so easily? From first glance, something about the first goal seemed too easy. Looking again, the wall seems miles away – at least a yard inside the penalty area. When he took the second kick from the same spot, England players were allowed to stand right on the edge of the box.
In these days of the vanishing spray, if you moan about it you can all end up getting booked. It’s up to the referee to measure it correctly.
The problem was then compounded because England players had clearly been told not to jump.
A 6ft obstacle can become an 8ft one with a good leap but perhaps somebody had seen Griffiths fire a shot under a wall once.
It was a fatal decision, because by having a wall too far back and too low, Griffiths could whip the ball over the obstacle rather than chip it over. That extra pace beat Hart.
So for the second free-kick, either Hart or somebody on the sidelines had clearly got the message to the players in the wall to jump. As a result, the wall should have done its job.
But replays show the ball flew past Chris Smalling’s ear. There is always a risk of a deflection wrong-footing the goalkeeper, but players are always told to get something – your face, your ear, your nose – in the way of the ball if you can.
Again, a lower-than-usual, faster ball was allowed through on goal and the pace was simply too much for Hart.
