Internationals 
/ Michael Cox / 24 March 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Lowest ebb - Capello watches England crash out of the World Cup against Germany
"The time may have come for Capello to admit that Lampard and Gerrard can’t be used together, especially with the emergence of Jack Wilshere."
With such a long break between international matches it can be difficult to keep up to speed with Fabio Capello's team. Michael Cox assesses the 12 matches England have played in the last year and makes four key conclusions.
Lampard and Gerrard still don't play well together
It's become a clichéd argument, but it's backed up by the stats. In the past 12 months, England have started six games with the Lampard-Gerrard partnership, and six games with only one of them. The difference in performance is stark - when only one has started, England have won 66% of matches, and the goals scored per game figure is at an impressive 2.16. When they're paired together, however, the win ratio falls to 33%, and the goals scored per game figure drops to 1.16. And that doesn't even take into account that one of the wins (and two of the goals) when both started were in England's 2-1 win over Hungary - when Lampard was taken off midway through the game, and Gerrard stormed forward to turn the game around with two superb goals.
Injuries have meant that the two haven't started together in the last five England matches, and Gerrard will miss this game. The time may have come for Capello to admit that the two can't be used together, especially with the emergence of Jack Wilshere.
Expect goals from the bench
In England's last five fixtures, as many goals have been scored by players who began the match on the substitute's bench, as from those who were in the starting XI. Jermain Defoe scored a hat-trick against Bulgaria; Wayne Rooney and Darren Bent have scored a goal apiece each when starting, but Bent, Peter Crouch, Ashley Young and Adam Johnson (twice) have all contributed to the scoring despite being initially left out.
England have a strong five-man strikeforce in the squad for this match, with Rooney, Bent, Defoe and Crouch joined by Andy Carroll, and a substitute may well be the difference on Saturday.
Wayne Rooney is the first name on the teamsheet, but is in poor form at international level
Rooney appears to have recovered from his early season slump in form for Manchester United, and has been very good in recent weeks when played off a main frontman - either Dimitar Berbatov or Javier Hernandez. This has changed from last season, where he was frequently used as United's main central striker.
He has generally been used off a 'big man' by Capello, and has always been in the starting XI when fit. He's started 11 of England's last 12 games - only Glen Johnson can equal that - but he's scored only one goal in that time. That's a disappointing record considering how well he started under Capello's management - between September 2008 and September 2009, he scored 11 goals in 10 games.
Capello's choice of frontman has often been dictated by what gets the best out of Rooney - Emile Heskey was the main beneficiary - but in recent times Rooney hasn't been scoring, and therefore England need goals from his partner.
England have had far too many centre-back partnerships
In the 12 games, Capello has used an incredible 10 separate centre-back pairings. The only two duos to have started more than one game together are John Terry and Matthew Upson, and Rio Ferdinand and Joleon Lescott - and neither of those double acts will be used on Saturday, as neither Upson nor Ferdinand are in the squad.
This has contributed to England's poor record at keeping clean sheets - only four in 12 games - a figure that should be much better considering the relatively poor standard of opposition Capello has encountered in the past calendar year.
John Terry hasn't started the last five England games, but having been awarded the armband, it's safe to say he'll start here. His partner is likely to be either Phil Jagielka or Joleon Lescott, with Michael Dawson also in with a shout. Whoever it is, though, it won't be a familiar combination.
How will England line-up?
Capello has experimented with three central midfielders in friendlies, but it's likely to be a 4-4-1-1 shape here, with Wayne Rooney in the hole.
My guess would be: Hart; Johnson, Dawson, Terry, Cole; Lennon, Lampard, Wilshere, Milner; Rooney, Bent.
With Capello's recent record of team selections, though, it's very difficult to predict.
I'm going to back a 1-1 draw, available at [10.5].
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