In terms of the current England side I feel there are two spots in the starting eleven that are still up for grabs. One is the goalkeeping position and the other is at right-back. There is little to choose between the current crop of English goalkeepers so whoever has the best season at club level should be in a position to grab the position with both hands, so to speak.

Ben Foster has been given a massive chance in Edwin Van der Sar’s absence at Old Trafford and he hasn’t done badly but he certainly hasn’t been brilliant. He has been beaten a bit too easily for my liking a few times this season. So when the Dutchman returns to fitness, I’d expect Foster to return to number two which means he will struggle to get in Fabio Capello’s team.

For me, Blackburn’s Paul Robinson is just a squad keeper and not a number one so the contest will mainly between Portsmouth’s David James who is likely to face a pretty torrid season with all the big name departures from Fratton Park and West Ham’s Robert Green. To be honest there’s little to separate either keeper, so club form will play a big part in Capello’s decision making.

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Capello may have claimed that Liverpool new boy Glen Johnson is one of the best right-backs in the world and I would agree with that in terms of his play going forward but defensively he’s still lacking. Johnson has got to defend far better as in the last few internationals the opposition have found space in behind him on numerous occasions. The England manager doesn’t seem like a man who picks full-backs mainly for their attacking qualities; Italians usually prefer their defenders to be defenders first and foremost. Johnson is not that type of player at the moment.

I have seen a lot of Johnson and although he has come on leaps and bounds since his Chelsea days he is still liable to defensive lapses. It’s no coincidence that the Liverpool defence has conceded more goals since he has joined the club as their rigid backline has been exposed due to Johnson’s suspect positional sense.

The saving grace for the player is that England are not exactly overloaded in the right-back department with Gary Neville struggling to regain his past form and a place in the Manchester United team and Man City’s Micah Richards a shadow of the player that burst onto the scene a couple of years ago.