If any striker was to be given a chance to prove himself it should be either Dean Ashton or Dave Kitson. Ashton was in line for a call-up before he was injured in an England training session that was actually around him the day before the match. He was meant to make his debut, I just hope he is given a chance in the near future as he is more than good enough.

Kitson… don’t particularly rate him, but I am not a Reading fan and have never seen him play. But as the top scoring Englishman in the Premiership, surely he should be put into consideration ahead of Heskey?

This is all my opinion however and I wouldn’t blame anyone for disagreeing.

Robert Green should also be given a chance in net, and Beckham should have been in the squad. He was actually match fit because he took time out to train with Arsenal just so that he could gain fitness as he knew he would have no chance of being picked otherwise.

Nevertheless, looking forward to the game and the start of a new era.

Seven people have been dropped from the squad, which includes Nickey Shorey, Ledley King, Michael Carrick and Emile Heskey.

I can accept your point about England’s reliance on set-piece play under Sven-Goran Eriksson, but I don’t think that was true under Steve McClaren. I admit that was largely because England relied on nothing but wishful thinking for most of his tenure, but still.

You’re right to say that the Russia/Israel matches were down to Barry rather than Wright-Phillips; I only focused on the latter because he plays Beckham’s position. I have to say, though, that I think Hargreaves should be selected ahead of Barry in future.

England don’t really have any wingers with Beckham out of the frame – as you say, Wright-Phillips can’t cross to save his life. Joe Cole is a great player, but he’s right-footed, which means he has to cut inside when on the attack – he can’t cross with his left. The only half-decent left-footed winger is Stewart Downing, who has no other positive attributes to speak of. It is amazing, looking at the England squad, that we have so many world-class players on the right but only really one on the left.

Israel and Russia, it has to be said, England played excellently, although I personally thought that it was more Gareth Barry’s moment than Shaun Wright-Phillips, but from the Russia game in Moscow, I dare to say that even after the harmony at Wembley, there was far too much ineptitude on display, with Shaun Wright-Phillips down right poor on the wing. I do have to hand it to him against Croatia at Wembley, if the pitch was decent he’d have performed better, but he doesn’t have the effect on the team that Beckham has, his crossing is terrible and he cuts inside a lot more. I constantly saw free kicks blasted over the top, and a team that is known for mostly scoring with a dead ball without much crossing going on, as Wright-Phillips and Cole end up cutting inside too much.

I think that Beckham is the most influential player on the pitch, when he’s playing well. But he’s soon going to get past it, and isn’t what he used to be already, and thus Capello has to sort that out, and I’m thinking that he’ll lean towards Bentley or Young for that.

I do agree on the media comment aswell, I am irritated by just how vicious it is, but that’s just part of the package and possibly another reason for Capello not playing Beckham, to show that he won’t bow down to the media.

While I’m a great admirer of David Beckham, I don’t think it’s fair to say that England rely on him. A lot of people have forgotten that England played very well against Russia and Israel at Wembley, and both of those games saw Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right wing. Beckham was one of the two best players on the pitch against Croatia, but that spoke more to the utter ineptitude of the rest of the squad than the brilliance of Beckham.

I think the key problem England have is the weight of expectation placed on the players’ shoulders during every game. England are not the best national team in the world, but every game they play is treated as a must-win by the media, and every game they lose is a national tragedy in the pages of newspapers. The sheer, incredible weight of this expectation from millions upon millions of people isn’t suffered by players from other countries for the simple reason that the English media is uniquely vicious and uniquely prolific. I just hope Capello – who is legendary for not giving a damn about the media – will be able to deflect some of the pressure onto his shoulders.

Capello will know all about Beckham and what he can do, and if I recall correctly, he’s been the only Englishman in Capello’s squad. What he’ll have to do now, is tinker with the England squad and get to the bottom of this, why can they only score from Beckham’s dead ball? Why don’t they function as well as they should? Just who deserves to fill Beckham’s boots? Beckham won’t last forever and England rely on him a lot, and Capello has to get them working out how to score other than from a dead ball situation.

The friendlies mean that he can play two right midfielders, once each half, to discover how they perform in the England kit, while with Beckham he knows what he can do and playing him against Switzerland and France wouldn’t help him finding out who can play well for England in right midfield.

That’s my two pence on that issue, and if I’m going to take a guess then I’d say that he might get his 100th cap in the friendly against Germany. Just a hunch.

I know what you mean about the Barry-Gerrard pairing, but I honestly think that Hargreaves-Gerrard is a match made in heaven. Gerrard is selfish but brilliant, able to do amazing things if someone else is willing to sit back and hold off the opposition. Barry was willing to play that secondary role, but in doing so never really excelled against strong opposition – his performances against stronger opposition really exposed a lack of quality during the qualifying campaign. Hargreaves is a different proposition altogether: he’s undeniably world class, and unlike Barry, he can be as spectacular as Gerrard while sitting back in a selfless holding role.

The strike partnership is really difficult to call, I agree with you there. Rooney certainly can’t play on his own up front, but then I don’t think anyone else can either. I also think an Owen-Heskey partnership, while effective in the past, is complicated by Owen’s abysmal form at the moment. In the end, it will come down to Capello’s interpretation of Owen’s form: is he suffering from appalling service from an awful Newcastle side, or is he just in a serious slump in form?

I’d say its a really solid selection for what he is most likely going to do with England. Hargreaves and Gerrard would be interesting; but Barry and Gerrard is proven. It is effective, and I think that Capello will take that into account when selecting a holding midfielder in the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if he played two holding midfielders in a 4-5-1, with a lone striker up top. I have no idea who he would pick to be the lone striker, but I could see Jermaine Jenas (as the non-holding midfielder) and Rooney doing great things.

As for the strikers, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Rooney is the most likely combination, but I’m extremely excited to see the inclusion of Emile Heskey. Capello has not forgotten that Heskey and Owen form one of the strongest striker partnerships on the international level, and I am thankful that he’s giving it another shot. I’m almost positive that the ONLY reason that Owen was selected is because Heskey was, and vice-versa. One cannot operate without the other. Fact. I am really hoping to see Heskey/Owen up front.

On the back-line, I envision excellent things. I have been hoping to see Ledley King back in action. What would’ve made me the happiest England fan is to see Jamie Carragher come out of retirement and play for England alongside Rio Ferdinand or John Terry. Jamie Carragher (and Stevie G) are the foundation of Liverpool. But alas, that’s not the case. Micah Richards is the future of England at right-back. Left-back is Ashley Cole… I guess. I wouldn’t mind seeing Wayne Bridge get a start though.

But what about Terry, Lampard, and Beckham? I’m not sure where I stand with Lampard. Terry will definitely be back in the squad after he recovers. I think that once Beckham gets back to playing matches, he will also be back in the squad. Capello has not forgotten what Beckham has done at his time at Real Madrid. But Lampard.. I do not know.

On another note, can someone convince Paul Scholes to come out of retirement? It seriously would be the best thing.