Capello given food for thought ahead of Croatia clash

Fabio Capello was left with more questions than answers after England warmed up for Wednesday’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Croatia with a 2-1 friendly victory over Slovenia at Wembley.

Capello’s side created enough chances to have won by a bigger margin and Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and John Terry gave the kind of influential displays that will be needed to subdue a Croatian team fighting to stay in contention for a World Cup place.

On the surface everything is going swimmingly for Capello, whose side are now unbeaten in six matches after their seventh win in eight home games under the Italian coach.

But there are still a couple of pressing issues for Capello to resolve before Slaven Bilic’s team arrive at Wembley in midweek.

Once again Capello opted to play Emile Heskey alongside Wayne Rooney in England’s attack on Saturday.

The Aston Villa targetman is Rooney’s preferred partner but he was comprehensively outshone by Jermain Defoe, who came on at half-time to score his fifth goal in his last three England appearances after Frank Lampard’s penalty, won by Wayne Rooney’s controversial tumble, had opened the scoring.

Defoe is England’s form striker and has now scored eight times since Capello took charge, but the former AC Milan boss is still unsure if the Tottenham striker is more than an impact substitute.

“Heskey played a good game, but I had a chance at half-time to see a different style of play with two smaller players. I am still trying different things,” Capello said.

“I want to know a lot of things but Jermain always scores when he plays the second half. I want to use the time before the next game to decide.”

Defoe has made a superb start to the season for club and country and, with England just one win away from the World Cup, Capello must be tempted to unleash him on Croatia in a game that could secure England’s place in South Africa.

There is no doubting Defoe’s confidence that he can deliver on the big occasion.

“Everyone wants to play; no one wants to sit on the bench. But at the end of the day if I can come on and make an impact like I did I’ll do that,” Defoe said.

“The manager picks the team. I will just keep working hard and see what happens.”

The striking issue isn’t Capello’s only dilemma. When he sits down to analyse the DVD of his side’s victory on Saturday, he will surely contemplate the ease with which Slovenia exposed the right side of England’s defence.

Liverpool right-back Glen Johnson is a potent attacking threat but he was caught out of position several times as the visitors, hardly a European superpower, cut through the England defence with alarming ease.

Capello was quick to defend Johnson’s performance and he was more concerned by the way his side switched off in the closing stages, allowing Slovenia to pull a goal back through Zlatan Ljubijankic.

It was Joleon Lescott, on as a substitute, who was exposed on that occasion and Capello knows similar sloppy marking will be exposed far more often by Croatia.

“I was frustrated to concede a late goal because the concentration was not good in the last four or five minutes. We played too slow and with long balls. It is not a style I like,” he said.

“I want the players focused for every moment, at the start and the end. Slovenia created a few chances but there were no problems about (Glen) Johnson at right-back because he is in good form.

“Friendly games are very important preparation for me. Slovenia were a difficult team to play against. I learned a lot about individual players.

“We had a lot of chances and we have no injuries. I think we will play well against Croatia. I am sure.”