Gerrard losing England midfield battle

AGAINST Belarus tonight, Fabio Capello has the chance to demonstrate to a line of past England managers what international decision-making is all about.

He might just drop Steven Gerrard.

Stevie or not Stevie? That is the question so many before Capello have dodged whenever the tedious debate has raged on whether Gerrard and Frank Lampard can play in the same side.

You can hardly blame them when Gerrard's portfolio is packed with such iconic footballing moments as the Champions League final comeback in Istanbul in 2005, the FA Cup final heroics in 2006 and his brilliant goal for Liverpool against Marseille in the Champions League just last month.

I happen to believe Gerrard is the finest midfielder English football has produced since Bobby Charlton. He is a player who leads by surging example and consistently I have argued the England team should be built around him in his favourite position as an attacking central midfielder.

But, if Capello goes on what his eyes and ears and footballing instincts tell him right now and not on the hope for the future which has blinded so many others, then it has to be Lampard against Belarus.

It is indisputable that both midfielders play best when supplied with the security of a holding player to mind their backs, which is why Gareth Barry is an essential inclusion for a potentially tricky encounter.

Ideally, in the interests of balance and pace, that leaves Theo Walcott on the right and Shaun Wright-Phillips or Gerrard on the left if Capello is to keep faith with the 4-4-2 formation which performed creditably in the second half against Kazakhstan and which is vital to deploying Wayne Rooney in his best position close to main striker Emile Heskey.

But there are pressing reasons why Gerrard should start this match on the bench and most of them came from his own lips.

The Liverpool captain cut an impressive figure this week in the way he recognised his shortcomings. In the way he spoke at length about the pressure which has consumed him in an England shirt and how it has made him try a tad too hard.

Of course he wants the opportunity to play through his insecurities, which were transparent in a dismal display against Kazakhstan, and his plea to Capello to stick by him is what you would expect from a man of pride and patriotism.

But his national anxieties have robbed him of his natural game, stolen that instinct which allows him to play with such freedom and zest for Liverpool. It explains perhaps the unusually diffident, almost mechanical performances of late.

In an England shirt he gives the impression of a man consumed by self-doubt.

By contrast, Lampard is in wonderful form, the man of the match in my view against Kazakhstan on Saturday even if the official decision predictably went in favour of two-goal Rooney.

It is why Lampard is the man for Minsk where Belarus will carry a threat. They might be an emerging nation of only 10 million, whose team is currently ranked 59th in the world, but they are disciplined, technically sound and capable of springing surprises.

They have beaten the Netherlands twice, drawn 1-1 with Italy and held Argentina to a goalless draw last month.

In Group 6 so far they have lost narrowly to Ukraine and have beaten Andorra 3-1.

They demand respect, just as the Gerrard-Lampard conundrum demands a decision.