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England’s squad list for the upcoming friendly against Spain makes pretty grim reading. Unless you are Spanish, of course. Or an English central midfielder, of which nine are included in Steve McLaren’s squad.

The visitors to Old Trafford have a virtual embarrassment of riches up front: natural finishers with pace and panache in on-form-again Morientes, David Villa and the striker everybody wants, Fernando Torres. Compared to that, England will line up with the usual embarrassment. An unfit Wayne Rooney and someone (probably Crouch) who nobody really trusts much.

In fact, the England line-up is only surpassed in its predictability by its ineffectuality. The only thing more frustrating than the fact that even an uninterested spectator could guess exactly the tired old line-up that will take to the pitch on Wednesday night is the fact that that same tired line-up has never done anything to convince the nation it was any good in the first place.

Robinson looks shaky, Neville looks bored, Ferdinand and Terry are average when paired together, Ashley Cole looks unstable in defence. Gerrard looks marginalised on the right, Lampard has disappeared, Carrick does not look up to the level. Yet almost all would agree, England’s biggest problems are still up front.

McLaren has picked Rooney, Crouch, Defoe and Johnson. The first of the bunch is injured and is not currently playing at the top of his game. Crouch, at least, seems to have finally found some confidence at Liverpool, but England seem unsure of how to use him. Defoe has pace, but is not even a guaranteed starter at the team sitting 11^th in the table, while Andy Johnson works best as a lone striker, and it seems impossible to imagine McLaren starting with him at Old Trafford.

Assuming England will line up as a 4-4-2, are England’s front two, whoever they might be, really going to scare Puyol and Co on Wednesday?

Is it not high time we abandoned the “which striker plays best with Rooney?� debate? Since his dazzling display in Portugal in 2004, has Rooney actually turned in a repeat show? Here is a topic for a new debate: “which striker plays best for England?�

The root problem with this England team is that too many players are in the side off the back of their reputations - form seems only to have an effect on whether the fringe players get picked or not.

This country surely is not so starved of quality strikers as to have to resort to this sorry quartet, regardless of their current form. It is a friendly, surely there would have been no harm in calling up Darren Bent or even Reading’s on-form Leroy Lita. At least these two players have pace and play regularly for their clubs. They also both happen to be scoring goals for their lowly sides.

Anyone who has watched Lita this season has seen a young striker equally comfortable playing with his back to goal and on the shoulder of the last defender; effective as a lone hitman or teamed up with a second forward. Although McLaren may think it is too early to play the Reading man, he at least looks the part.

Though stability is nice, what is the point of picking and then fielding players who are not playing well or carrying injuries? Pick instead players who are scoring goals, who are high on confidence, who are eager to prove they can perform on the highest stage.

Because it seems that regardless how many anonymous games the likes of Lampard and Rooney play, they seem not to face any competition whatsoever for their places. The old guard are lacking in creativity and hunger. Opposition sides are all too aware of this weakness now, and are starting to exploit it. Time for a change.