Capello's conundrum
by Nicholas Veevers
Monday, 05 September, 2011
Manager feels strength in depth should be enough to overcome Wales.
England Manager Fabio Capello admits he may have to change his line-up to face Wales on Tuesday night, given the different scenario on offer to his players.
Capello raised more than a few eyebrows on Friday when he left Frank Lampard out of the team which beat Bulgaria in Sofia, but with a different opposition to consider and the prospect of playing at Wembley, he may tinker with his team again.
“I’m happy with the players,” he admitted. “All of the players have trained really hard today, so I’m very happy with the training.
“Frank Lampard is still a really important player, like all of the players that are here and those that aren’t like Wilshere, Walker, Gerrard.
“I think he will be ready to play tomorrow. We played a different style in Bulgaria but he’s still one of the most important players in this squad - he absolutely has a future in the squad.”
The Italian is also pleased with the competition for places within his squad, after seeing a number of younger players force their way into his thoughts over the last few months.
That has given him more choices on which to base his selection and he admits that he’s not afraid of throwing his more junior players in at the deep end as shown last week when Chris Smalling made his senior bow in Sofia.
“I think the young players have a chance to play,” he added. “I will choose the players when they are ready to play in important games like this.
“I hope that we win tomorrow and qualify, it’s a really important game.”
The Three Lions won’t be taking anything for granted though and Capello has made sure that his players are well versed in what to expect from Gary Speed’s team.
Wales picked up a morale-boosting win against Montenegro on Friday in Cardiff so will travel across the border looking to gain some sort of revenge for the first game between the two earlier this year which ended in a 2-0 victory to Capello's men.
“I think it’s very important to win tomorrow. Wales are in a really good moment of form,” he added.
“It will be a tough game because Wales are playing really well. I watched their game with Montenegro and they created a lot of chances to score goals and their players are very confident.
“They created chances on the counter attack so it will be a really dangerous game for us.”
England play Wales in their penultimate UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier at Wembley, for tickets click here