FROM an international manager’s point of view, the one game of the first section of qualification matches he wants to win is the last in October.

There is now a gap over our winter months when England will regroup and play three more games, but all friendlies.

The next World Cup qualifying game is actually six months away.

On that point it will be interesting to compare the team of six months time to the one that had such an emphatic win in Belarus – the back four for instance arguably contained three second choice players.

The one thing that has come out forcibly is that Fabio Capello is the right man for the job.

The much-maligned media were able to cleverly get acting captain Rio Ferdinand to admit that the circus surrounding the team previously with all of the wives and girlfriends helped no one at all.

He also admitted what we have suspected since Capello arrived – that no player now takes his selection for granted.

This is how it should be.

I am forever reminded what Alan Ball told me happened when the great Bobby Moore said to Sir Alf Ramsay after a game at Wembley ‘see you next time boss,’ to which Alf replied ‘if selected.’ Bobby at the time was in the top three players in the world.

Now we have a situation where the manager doesn’t officially announce to the players what the team will be until a few hours before kick off.

Lot of nonsense Before, apparently most of them knew when they joined up so I can imagine there was not that certain edge in the training sessions and meetings leading up to kick off.

A lot of nonsense is talked about tactics and it is a fact that a good balanced team should have natural left and right sided players.

The left side has been a particular problem to England in recent years.

One thing that shows Fabio’s experience and strength as a manager is that he acknowledges he has in Lampard and Gerrard two first class players and has shown it is possible to employ both of them with Gareth Barry taking a more anonymous role in-between the pair, giving extra strength in front of the back four.

Wayne Rooney has also announced he is playing the best football of his career and thanks the Italian for that.

Capello has quickly realised that Rooney is a bit of a free spirit.

I often think he is like the young lad in the back streets who would rather be kicking a ball around on the cobbled stones than attending school. I still think even with all of his riches, he would be prepared to play without the trappings that go with the job.

On that point, like many other people in the game, I shook my head when the Scottish player Boyd announced grandly that he did not wish to play for Scotland again under George Burley.

It’s bad enough to say he would never play for his country again, but to more or less say the manager should go and then he would come back in – as if that was the answer to everything – is disgraceful.

He can’t be that good otherwise Scotland wouldn’t be yet again facing an uphill battle to even qualify for the final stages.

But back to Mr Capello, the man of the moment.

We find ourselves now having our best start to a World Cup qualifying campaign.

His reaction in after-match interviews was sensible.

He said it is far too soon to predict anything – he knows in the next six months many things can happen such as serious injuries to key players.

There is no doubt he wants to win, and his team changes in the second half of games have proved his ability to weigh up situations and put players into positions best suited to them.

If there is a weakness for when we come up against the real top teams in the world, it was shown up by the Belarus goal when young Walcott, having come back into a defensive position, had not gone the extra few yards to cut out the players who came in for a free header into the goal.

His predecessor in that position, Mr Beckham, was not exactly the best defender either.

The obvious weakness is in front of the left back when people like Gerrard are asked to play there and by nature drift inside.

At club level it has been shown that opposition are quick to weigh up situations like this where teams may be solid down the centre but weak on the flanks.

But I am sure as and when we progress to South Africa, our national manager will have come up with the answers.