England’s poor 2010 concluded as they slid to a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to France, but the night may be remembered for the “Club v Country” debate returning once again. Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry and captain Rio Ferdinand all picked up injuries for the Three Lions, summing up a generally miserable year for the Italian.

But it is the injury to Gerrard which has sparked fury. Liverpool fitness coach Darren Burgess was far from happy with the England manager after he didn’t substitute Gerrard around the hour mark as planned.

On his Twitter account, Burgess said: “Unbelievable from all associated with England and English FA with regard to SGs [Gerrard's] injury. Completely ignored agreement and past history, Completely amateurish and now we pay for their incompetence. Absolutely disgraceful.”

While the comments were later removed from the Australians account, Capello did admit that he hadn’t stuck to an agreement with Liverpool. He said: “I told Liverpool he would play for an hour if possible. They asked that he can play one hour if it’s possible. They can’t decide how long a player plays with the national team. If it’s possible, he’d have played an hour.

“I understand why they’re upset and I’m also upset. The problem is that, when you play this game on Wednesday after a lot of Premier League, Europa League or Champions League games, it’s possible there might be an injury for a player. The Premier League, every time, is a tough league for the players.”

While Liverpool will quite rightly be disappointed with the injury to their talisman, as Capello suggests, there is very little that can be done to avoid it, especially if England insist on playing meaningless friendly games.

Capello took the opportunity to give the likes of Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Kieran Gibbs a chance, he still won’t have learnt a great deal from the game. You have to feel that a training camp would have surely been gave him an adequate chance to view some potential additions to his squad.

This isn’t going to happen though, especially with the constant need to make the most out of Wembley and pack in as many friendly games as possible to boost revenue. So the unfortunate fact is the long running debate will run on.

Cardiff striker Jay Bothroyd is a surprise name in the squad

Fabio Capello has announced his squad for Wednesday’s friendly with France and one name in the squad will certainly cause England fans to raise an eyebrow. Cardiff striker Jay Bothroyd has received a surprise call-up and while it is a fitting reward for the 28-year-old’s impressive start to the season, it does make you think about the strength of English footballers in the Premier League.

When the Premier League was launched it would have been almost unthinkable to see player from outside the top flight representing England. But now Bothroyd’s call-up could open the door for more lower league players to represent the Three Lions.

More and more English players who would have previously easily managed to play in the top-flight, are now dropping in to the lower leagues in a quest for regular first-team football.

This has meant that there is a general lack of options for Capello in the Premier League, and in the future you have to feel that there will be a much greater number of players from outside the top flight in contention for places in the England squad, and this can only damage England’s chances of success.

If you look at Spain all of their squad are playing in not only Europe’s top leagues, but for the top sides and England will not be able to mould top players if their international players aren’t able to test themselves against the world’s best on a regular basis.

The lack of English players in the Premier League means that when a good young player emerges they are often fast-tracked in to the England frame. This is exactly what Capello has done with the inclusion of Jordan Henderson, Andy Carroll and Chris Smalling who despite their tender age and lack of real experience have been called-up for the game at Wembley.

England are looking to follow the German example of giving young players a chance and in many ways there is no problem with this. In years to come Carroll, Smalling and Henderson look set to be key parts of the England set-up, so why not give them the experience at  a young age?

While Carroll might miss the game through injury the experience of been part of the England camp can only be of benefit to him, and the same goes for Henderson and Smalling if they don’t feature on Wednesday night.

But in an ideal world Capello would love to see a much greater pool of English players in the Premier League for him to choose from, so he wouldn’t have to rush his youngsters through or include players who haven’t proved they can do it at the top level.

This isn’t going to happen overnight though, and while the home-grown player rules that were introduced for this season may have some impact in increasing the percentage of English players in the league you have to feel that there will never be the same number as of when the Premier League was launched.

The Premier League is now a global industry and unfortunately the England team has, and will continue to suffer as a result.

England squad to face France on Wednesday: Foster (Birmingham), Hart (Man City), Green (West Ham); Gibbs (Arsenal), Cole (Chelsea), Terry (Chelsea), Jagielka (Everton), Lescott (Man City), Richards (Man City), Ferdinand (Man Utd), Smalling (Man Utd); Walcott (Arsenal), Wilshere (Arsenal), Young (Aston Villa), Gerrard (Liverpool), Barry (Man City), Johnson (Man City), Milner (Man City), Henderson (Sunderland); Agbonlahor (Aston Villa), Bothroyd (Cardiff), Carroll (Newcastle), Crouch (Tottenham), Cole (West Ham).

Newcastle United may have slipped to a disappointing home defeat at the hands of Blackburn Rovers, but their star striker Andy Carroll did manage to enhance is ever-growing reputation with another goal. Carroll’s equaliser was his seventh goal of the season, a tally that will surely be enough to see him named in the England squad for next week’s friendly with France.

But his call-up will not be without controversy. The 21-year-old’s well documented troubles in his private life have seen Carroll fill newspapers throughout the UK for all the wrong reasons. Many are now of the opinion that the Gateshead born forward is not the sort of role-model that an England international should be.

While I do not wish to defend Carroll for his actions, you have to remember that he is only 21. When somebody so young is bombarded with massive wages and fame there is a real recipe for problems. Carroll isn’t the first talented footballer to go off the straight and narrow and he certainly won’t be the last.

However Carroll does seem to have an ability to switch off from his private life when he crosses the white line, something which many other footballers struggle with. For example in the week after his car was torched, Carroll headed Newcastle to victory at West Ham, an achievement which is quite remarkable.

That is a quality which could see the striker become a role model for youngsters, and I have no doubt that as he matures the problems in his personal life will become a thing of the past. If anything, giving Carroll a place in the England squad could only see him mature quicker. Fabio Capello is the ideal man to advise Carroll, and while the Italian will only be around for 2012 he could really focus the forward on making the most of his footballing talent.

His footballing talent will be enough to see Carroll as a permanent fixture in the England squad. He is hard-working and committed, couple this with his obvious ability to score goals and the Three Lions will have a real asset. So while it may be controversial in the short-term, calling Carroll in the England squad will be the best for the country in the long-term and more perhaps more importantly for Carroll’s whole career.

After a disappointing draw to Montenegro, do England need to look at football from the olden days to gain success?

On a serious note the draw was a very poor result for England, but I think there must be a sense of reality added to the score. Without a doubt Montenegro were the toughest of the sides to come from the lower ranked nations.

In years to come the former Yugoslav state will establish themselves a tough side to face in European football and I can safely say that they won’t finish bottom of England’s qualifying group.

But Fabio Capello will still be bitterly disappointed by the result, and England desperately showed their lack of a cutting edge. It was apparent against the USA and Algeria during the World Cup and against a stubborn defence tonight, England couldn’t break through once again. To be honest I think England missed Jermain Defoe, he has the natural ability to score goals, I would have backed him to take one of Wayne Rooney’s chances tonight.

But hopefully this will act as another learning curve for Capello on how to break negative sides down, however I won’t be holding my breath. The Italian is set in his ways and won’t change tactics in future based on another bad result. Unfortunately I see similar results becoming a regular occurrence in the future, due to Capello’s lack of tactical fluidity.

England are far too regimented compared to other nations and that, as shown in South Africa will only hold them back in their quest for a return to the top of world football.

Trevor Brooking has today claimed that Steve McClaren could one day return as the manger of the England side. With Fabio Capello already stating that he will leave his position with the FA after the 2012 European Championships, and the FA insisting that an Englishmen will replace him, could ‘The Wally with the Brolly’ really return?

For me no. Regrettably  I can recall been stood at a rain-soaked Wembley on a cold November night and watching McClaren’s England spectacular humiliation  against Croatia. The 3-2 defeat saw the Three Lions fail to qualify for Euro 2008. My memory of the night may be a bit a hazy after the game, mainly due to the need drown my sorrows, but that feeling of failure has remained etched in my mind since then.

To be fair to McClaren he has managed to pick his career up off the floor in the years that have passed. A successful spell in Holland saw him win the Dutch Eredivisie in his second season with FC Twente. McClaren followed up this success with a move to the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg and after a slow start results are beginning to improve their.

FA Director of Football Development Trevor Brooking believes that McClaren’s experience of managing on the continent could really be an advantage should he wish to give managing his national side a second chance.

He said: “Steve has done fantastic to get a title (with FC Twente). PSV and Ajax are usually the sides in Holland who do that and now Wolfsburg are picking up. It is a big challenge and it is great for an English coach.

“Could Steve do the England job again? I am sure if he continues to be a success his name will be in the frame again. I wouldn’t rule anybody out.”

While McClaren’s recovery has been impressive I still feel the scepticism that would surround his appointment would be far too great for him to ever be a success, and while the other options aren’t great, I still think we shouldn’t take a step backwards and turn to a manager who has previously failed.

With Fabio Capello insisting that he won’t manage England past the 2012 European Championships, names are already been branded about as a possible successor to the Italian. But with the FA proudly boasting that their next manager will be English there is hardly a wealth of managers to choose from.

Early contenders are Harry Redknapp, Roy Hodgson, Steve Bruce and Sam Allardyce with current England number two Stuart Pearce also reportedly in the frame. Without meaning to disrespect any of these they hardly have the same statute as Capello.

That is the real problem that the FA now faces after promising an English manager. The FA will be hoping that an English manager will bring more pride and passion from the players, something that was so desperately missing in South Africa.

The worry is though that the FA’s willingness to employ an English manager could backfire with huge consequences. After the 2006 World Cup there was the same urge to go English and Steve McClaren was given the chance to succeed Sven-Göran Eriksson.

What was followed was a drastic failure that lead to England failing to qualify for Euro 2008. If the same was to happen again it would mean England missing out on a World Cup which would the ultimate humiliation.

Personally I see myself more patriotic then most, but I just don’t feel the need for the England manager to actually be English and believe purely in picking a manager who is the most best man for the job.

In an ideal world yes, I’d love to see a top English manager making his national team play with the heart that we saw so many other countries play with at the World Cup.

But the fact of the matter is that we don’t have a top manager. International football is the very top level in football and I wouldn’t want to see England sacrifice the chance of success for an apparent need for an Englishman to be charge. However with the FA already promising an Englishman it means unfortunately this may be the case.

When Shaun Wright Phillips appeared as second half substitute against Switzerland, he was probably hoping that an impressive display could kick-start his club season. But things didn’t go according to plan for the Manchester City winger and a below par display was topped off with a woeful cross that eluded Darren Bent and infuriated boss Fabio Capello.

That cross summed up a frustrating few months for the 28-year-old. After a World Cup that ended with intense disappointment for every English player, Wright Phillips returned to Eastlands to see a host of big name arrivals.

Wright Phillips has since started just one of City’s opening three Premier League games and you do get the feeling he may slowly been forced out of the club who he is made over  150 appearances for.

It’s a real shame for Wright Phillips who ever since his £21 million move to Chelsea  in 2005 has seen his career stutter. That move was meant to be the making of the exciting English prospect, but things never really worked out for him in London. His game was never going to fit in with Jose Mourinho’s style and this is why I can see Wright Phillips departing from City sooner rather than later.

When he returned to the North West he could probably never of imagined what would happen in the following days. City’s takeover and new millions would change the course of his career. When he arrived back ‘home’ Wright Phillips probably envisaged he would be the leading light in the City team. But the arrival of Robinho just two days later, followed by the vast amount of talent that would follow has meant that once again the likeable winger is mealy a squad player.

Couple this with similarities between Mancini’s method and that of Mourinho, setting up a team that is difficult to beat. You can only have so many flair players and with City boasting vast amounts of talent you just can’t see Wright Phillips fitting in.

It’s such a shame because as I have mentioned Wright Phillips is a very likeable player, and has immense talent, but unfortunately he has been at two clubs who have been able to buy whatever player they like. At the sort of clubs like Wright Phillips has been at, he will always struggle to force their way in to the managers plans when better players become available, with their millions, they are always available.

While Jermain Defoe took the goal-scoring honours on Friday night at the other end of the pitch Joe Hart was going a long way to establishing himself as England’s goalkeeper for the foreseeable future with another fine display.

Fabio Capello’s decision to opt for an experienced ‘keeper at the World Cup at the expense of Hart was one of the biggest blunders he made in South Africa. Hart was a bench warmer throughout the tournament but since then it appears that Capello has seen the error of his ways.

The former Shrewsbury man has now well truly established himself as number one for club and country and if all goes well this should be the case for many years to come. It makes a refreshing change for England who after the retirement of David Seaman have been craving somebody to take on the role as England’s long term ‘keeper.

David James, Paul Robinson and Robert Green have all threatened to make the position their own. But a general lack of form, or high profile mistakes have ultimately lead to their downfall. Now it is Hart’s chance to shine, and if he can fulfil his early promise, Capello may finally have found the answer to the position which has become the most debated spot in the England side.

Hart’s confidence is the key to his success.  We must remember that at only 23 Hart is a baby in the goalkeeping world. But his commanding presence and immaculate performances demonstrate his confidence and portray a sense of stability that can only help build confidence in an England side which after the World Cup is understandably insecure.

The worry for Hart is that he succumbs to a Scott Carson like mistake. Carson was tipped to claim the England number one spot ahead of that infamous defeat to Croatia at Wembley. But ever since he failed to deal with Niko Kranjcar’s long range effort Carson has struggled to rebuild his career and only recently managed to fight his way back in to the England squad.

Should Hart make a similar error we may be searching for a keeper once more, but without meaning to jinx the former Shrewsbury Town man you just can’t see this happening, and even if it did you’d be backing Hart to bounce back a lot quicker then Carson.

To couple his obvious ability he appears to have a strong mentality, which for a ‘keeper is oh so vital and with him in goal the future of English football seems to have a securer base in which to build on.

Wayne Rooney will represent England against Switzerland in the midst of a media storm that is threatening to overshadow England’s 4-0 demolition of Bulgaria. While most would expect Rooney to struggle under the pressure, it would be just like him to return to form with a bang and do all his talking on the pitch.

By all accounts Rooney looked a lot better against Bulgaria; he played with the sort of freedom that hampered him so dearly in South Africa and had it not been for an excellent bit of goalkeeping Rooney would have had his first international goal in nearly a year.

Fabio Capello is often criticised for using Rooney in a deeper role, but in my opinion this is what brought about Rooney’s performance on Friday. Rooney felt the pressure of having to lead the line in South Africa. He was the man expected to get the goals to fire England to success but he just couldn’t do this and without a doubt suffered from the pressure.

On Friday it was almost as if Rooney had been told to let Jermain Defoe get in to the box, you do your work outside. Those of you with strong memories will recall Rooney’s early days for England where he had so much success playing the linking role behind Michael Owen.

While it might not see Rooney look at his clinical, free best it certainly produced a more effective and productive display from the Manchester United man that, which after heavy criticism following the World Cup, may have gone someway to rebuilding his confidence when he pulls on an England shirt.

But if Rooney had gained any confidence from Friday’s game it may have been shattered by the stinging allegations in to his private life that have filled British newspapers today. Now it is up to Capello to build that confidence back before England’s potentially vital game in Basel.

Personally I don’t think this will be that difficult to do. Rooney will be welcoming any distraction from his private life at the moment and a chance to escape for 90 minutes.  He may just be looking to take all his frustrations out on Switzerland on Tuesday, and if he does he may find himself firmly in the good books of the fickle English media once more.

After a successful, if occassionally indifferent 4-0 win over Bulgaria on Friday, England have won 11 successive home games. Before this game, the British tabloids were ready, knives sharpened, to cut England’s manager to pieces. In his England-Bulgaria preview last week, titled ‘Fabio Capello has lost his players and now he will lose his job’, The Mirror columnist Oliver Holt cites Fabio Capello’s body language as proof that he has given up. ‘It’s obvious from his body language’, he writes, ‘…he didn’t celebrate when England scored.’ There are so many instances of the punditocracy fancifully leaping to conclusions on negligible evidence that it would take a million monkeys writing on a million laptops for a million years to come up with them all, but this laughably unsubstantiated claim takes all the biscuits. Capello should be judged on his results, rather than any apparent lack of enthusiasm when England score, and on this score he has been quite magnificent.

Appointed in 2007, Fabio Capello has the highest win percentage of any England manager ever. Ever. Out of 30 matches since taking over the post he has won 70% of them, nearly 10% more than Sir Alf Ramsey, who actually won the World Cup, and over 20% more than Sir Bobby Robson, who led England to a World Cup semi final in 1990. His bravery – playing Theo Walcott in Zagreb when every other pundit wanted (and expected) David Beckham to play – led to an historic 4-1 victory. His team topped a fairly tough qualifying group ridiculously comfortably, leading Jonathan Wilson to write ‘England have more realistic hope of winning the World Cup than at any point since 1970′. Rather than the disjointed, egotistical, blathering nothingness of the Eriksson era, England (in November 2009) actually had a good team who played good football. England, as usual, expected, and England’s best players, whether due to a lack of fitness, loss of form or both, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard and Aaron Lennon – essentially England’s six best players in the qualifiers – failed quite miserably. To blame Capello completely for England’s failure in these circumstances is absolutely ridiculous. Perhaps only Spain could cope with six of their best players completely unfit or misfiring. England quite clearly couldn’t.

That is not to say he hasn’t made mistakes, and he made plenty in South Africa. Picking Ledley King, Terry, Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher and Matthew Upson as his centre back options for the World Cup was a disaster waiting to happen (and it did). The mythically well-stocked English centre back cupboard was a little bare, but picking Joleon Lescott – indifferent at Man City, but surely no worse than the horrific Upson at West Ham – or Phil Jagielka would surely have been a safer option. Upson and Terry were brutally exposed as the sham they were against Germany, where, without the guidance of a more tactically aware (or even quicker) centre half, Terry and Upson leapt around to prevent Klose (yes, that 300 million year old Miroslav Klose) turning, when it really created space behind them that neither had the pace to fill. The centre backs had made mistakes (such as playing offside at a goal kick), but Capello was stuck with them and had stuck himself to them. His reluctance to play Joe Hart, despite the limits (age and talent-wise) of his other options, David James and Robert Green, is also a mistake which looks even more unfathomable with hindsight.

Moreover, whilst England managers have picked injured players to play at the World Cup since the dawn of time, having a palpably unfit Gareth Barry as the squad’s only holding midfielder (he doesn’t even play there for his club), thus leaving Scott Parker and Phil Neville at home, was naiveté to the point of idiocy. His substitutions against the USA and Algeria were fairly uninspired, and bringing on Emile Heskey for Jermain Defoe against Germany was always going to play badly with an English media obsessed with Peter Crouch’s height. The much criticised system, an ‘ancient 4-4-2′ in The (riotously hypocritical) Sun (there is something so curious about Harry Redknapp criticising a manager for playing a 4-4-2), but a ‘modern, continental 4-2-3-1′ for the whole of qualifying, only held England back because of the players invovled. Someone has to tackle in the centre of midfield, and Barry was never going to do that when unfit – so England often couldn’t get the ball back when Germany, Slovenia or Algeria attacked. This failure again is only really damned with 20-20 hindsight, such was the mood of arrogant euphoria before England set off.

Despite these problems and errors on his part, England still reached the last 16 of the World Cup. Their group, rather than being EASY was deceptively tricky. Not only the Confederations Cup Finalists, but the fourth placed team in the African Cup of Nations, and a team who knocked out Russia over two legs – and all three were known for their organisational abilities. England could still have done better, but to dismiss their opponents as muppets would be a disservice. Once in the last sixteen, they were a television replay away from 2-2 having been 2-0 down, and the typical lack of craft and calm when behind the second half was something not even Capello could beat out of English players.

Moreover, since South Africa, England have won twice against sides who performed creditibly in the last qualification period. Hungary threatened to knock out Portugal, while Bulgaria only failed to qualify because of their phalanx of draws. Both were fairly limited opponents, but creditable scalps by anyone’s standards. And there are further successes: Ashley Cole, largely indifferent under Capello’s predecessor, is playing like the player he almost was at Arsenal; Capello has shown that he has learned from many of his mistakes – Hart is in, Upson is out (for now) – and deserves to keep his job at least until the Euros. Rooney and Defoe as a partnership may well struggle against teams who don’t give England early goals, or who can mark Defoe out of the game, but Capello remains very much in credit, whatever the tabloids say.

(feel free to drop me a tweet on http://twitter.com/mickyscallon )