Like every cloud, Rob Green’s horrible mistake against the USA had a silver lining, and that was to hide the multitude of other problems that England will have to address and overcome if they are to win the world cup. Obviously though, Fabio Capello will have to decide whether he wants to keep Green as his number one. Does he risk him making another awful mistake, or does he think he is mentally strong enough to deal with his error and move on?

Goalkeeper

I personally think he should be dropped. I also don’t think he should have started for England in the first place. Like David Seaman, I would have opted to take the experience of David James. Like Green, is he occasionally prone to errors, but the great difference with James is that he doesn’t let those errors affect his game. He has a more confident attitude and his greater experience allows him to cope better with the mental issues that follow a bad mistake. I don’t get the impression that Green is able to deal with the pressure that will inevitably be lumped upon him if he plays the next game for England. The whole World’s eyes will be on him and Algeria will certainly look to take advantage of his fragile nature. He went someway to atoning for his earlier error by palming an Altidore effort onto his post, but in truth he shouldn’t have been beaten at his near post anyway, and he very nearly palmed the ball into his own net.

Centre-back

I don’t think many people would argue with John Terry’s status as a near dead-cert for England’s next game. He gave a solid performance against the USA with few errors, and he is probably the best defender that England have available to them now, and certainly the most experienced. The problem is who Capello chooses to play alongside him. With King now probably ruled out for the rest of the tournament, Capello can choose from Carragher, Upson and Dawson.

Carragher was the one to take over from King at the weekend. He looked particularly uninspiring and worryingly slow. His lack of pace was exposed by Altidore, who with all due respect, spent most of last season warming the bench for relegated Hull. If Carragher comes up against better opposition, he shall surely be punished.

Upson has had a poor season for West Ham. If you are picking players on form, then he wouldn’t be the obvious choice. However, he has filled in for England before and given perfectly adequate performances. He also slightly edges Carragher in the pace department.

Dawson would be the wildcard pick of the three. He has no international experience, and that is a very big factor. This really would be throwing him in at the deep end. Having said that, the best players can deal with that kind of pressure. He is the quickest of the three, and that is an important asset when playing with Terry who isn’t too quick himself. He also had a great end to the season.

I would go with Upson, and I think that is who Capello will go with. He edges out Dawson in terms of experience and is slightly faster than Carragher. Carragher is also on a yellow card, which is something I think Capello will take into account when making his decision. Upson may not have played that well for West Ham this season, but he has always played fairly well for his country.

Central-midfield

England failed to dominate the midfield area against the USA. Gerrard played quite well, but Lampard was largely absent. The Clint Dempsey goal, whilst being a freak effort, illustrated a problem that England have if Lampard and Gerrard play together in central midfield. He was given far too much space, and was allowed to turn and work himself enough space to shoot when he should have been marked far closer. Capello will want to bring back Gareth Barry as soon as possible to fill that role of defensive midfielder and close the gap between defence and midfield that Dempsey was so keen to exploit.

Left Midfield

This was a very weak position for England in their first game. Capello started with Milner, which was an odd choice considering it is not his natural position, and that Joe Cole had played well there in the World Cup warm up matches. Milner looked very out of sorts, and retired after half an hour which suggested he wasn’t fit enough to start the game in any case. Stranger still was Milner’s replacement in Shaun Wright-Phillips. He was another player not used to playing on the left and whenever he received the ball, he was looking to cut back in on his right foot, and the American defence picked this out every time.

If England want a player who looks to be on form for his country, then they should play Joe Cole on the left. He is one of the few players in the squad capable of creating something special and ‘picking the lock’ of the top teams. He is also used to playing on the left and doesn’t look out of position there, even though he is predominantly right-footed. However, I think Capello will rush Barry back into the fold in central midfield, and probably push Gerrard out to the left. Gerrard can play well in that role, but it would be nice to see Cole coming off the bench if England need something different.

Striker

The question here is who best to play with Wayne Rooney. Heskey filled that role against USA and I thought he did quite well. He got to balls first and hustled and bustled England into some good situations. He set up England’s goal very well. His main problem is his abysmal finishing. He had an excellent chance to score on Saturday and he completely fluffed his lines, as per usual, firing straight at Howard. It was a shot that smacked of a real lack of confidence, a real hit-and-hope effort.

Rooney was very quiet in the USA game, but he should come good against Algeria and Slovenia. I don’t think there is a real argument for him not starting. However, it would be good to see the pace of Defoe against Algeria. They looked very poor against Slovenia and England should be looking to play through them, not tossing the ball up to Heskey and hoping for a knock-down.

Peter Crouch has a fantastic scoring record for his country, and Algeria could be a good chance for him to fill his boots. I would like to see Capello start Defoe with Rooney and look to get in behind the Algerian defence. However, I think he will stick with Rooney and Heskey. Hopefully we will see either Defoe or Crouch come off the bench as they are both hungry for goals, and they should get the chances to score against weak opposition.

Round-Up

When analysed, England have an awful lot of problem positions. They undoubtedly have a lot of good players, but they seem to be unable to get them all playing well at the same time, and create a cohesive formation. Having said that, they should have more than enough to easily beat both Algeria and Slovenia. If they can’t, then they simply don’t deserve to progress any further in this World Cup. Let’s see if they can pull it out of the bag and recreate some of the form that made them top European scorers in World Cup qualification.