'A tough proposition'

“They’ve brought quite a few of their senior players back down to play in the Under-21s so it’s going to be a tough game for us.”

Pearce’s 23-man squad is still packed with experience, with numerous Premier League and Championship first teamers included, but there is also room for a few relatively new faces.

"I know enough about the Steven Taylors, the Milners and Huddlestones, but have been able to bring back a few other players like Martin Cranie and Andrew Taylor who have been missing through injury," he said.
 

“With the balance of this squad, we’ve got experience, which we need to keep pushing through, but we've also got one or two untried players who need to come in and play as well.

“There’s a lot of players who aren’t in this squad who played in the last game and I’m pleased with their contribution.  But this squad will give me something else to look at and something else to think about.

“Danny Fox did well last time out and Scott Dann has done well in training, and has to try and push his way through now.  For me, it’s the right squad, and the right balance of squad, for this type of game.

“I’ve had the opportunity to watch one or two in the last game, and I’ll have the opportunity to have a look at one or two more in this game.  The beauty of what I’ve got available now is, I’ve got options, which is good for me.”

England’s attacking options have been bolstered by the selection of Theo Walcott and Gabriel Agbonlahor, as well as the return to the squad of QPR striker Dexter Blackstock, whose selection is just reward for his recent form, according to Pearce.

“Dexter had lost a touch of form at QPR and all of a sudden he’s come in and pitched in with four goals in five games and got himself back in the squad, and rightly so.”

“This squad is a stronger version of what we had for the Poland game, but it might be a lot stronger when you look at the likes of Agbonlahor, Walcott, Michael Johnson, who’s lightly raced but highly fancied, plus the two full backs (Andrew Taylor and Cranie) and David Wheater coming back in.  So we’ve strengthened it up fairly considerably.”