Dazzler Defoe should be Jermain to Capello's plans

So England are two games into Fabio Capello’s reign, and what have we learned? Not a lot, I hear you say.

Watching England play France, it was easy to drift back to the Sven-Goran Eriksson years, when England were solid enough but lacked invention and the cutting edge to break through top international defences.

To be fair to Capello, it is still early days. And it would be difficult to fault his selection for the France match. The defence pretty much picks itself, while his midfield of David Beckham, Owen Hargreaves, Gareth Barry and Joe Cole was a reasonable choice (apart from Beckham being a touch lucky to get in ahead of David Bentley after the Blackburn winger’s excellent debut against Switzerland in Capello’s first match in charge).

It is up front where the problems start – and the Italian is desperately short of options. He started with Wayne Rooney as a lone striker, with Gerrard playing “in the hole” behind him.