Capello hoping his wing wizards can feed fourth choice Crouch

Fabio Capello was supposed to be the England manager who would always know his own mind.

Yet tonight, in what has suddenly become a far bigger test than he imagined, the Italian will field the centre-forward he did not want to pick and the two wingers he did not believe were good enough just four months ago.

As Capello, in a rare break from the norm, revealed Peter Crouch will lead the England line against Montenegro with Adam Johnson and Ashley Young asked to supply the Spurs front-man from the flanks, it was clear the manager hardly felt himself spoiled for choice.

No matter that Crouch has scored seven goals in his five starts for Capello, 17 in 19 games when he has been in the first 11 for his country, the Italian does not trust him, feels England are prone to playing too long-ball when he is up front and believes he has been targeted by referees.

That is why Crouch got just 17 minutes from the bench against the USA and Algeria in the World Cup, why Jermain Defoe, Bobby Zamora and Darren Bent were ahead of him this season, why Capello even tried to entice Emile Heskey out of retirement a fortnight ago.

Despite naming Crouch in his squad, Capello had planned on using Bent up front, with Wayne Rooney in behind, against the surprise Group G leaders, a blueprint that was suddenly torn up and cast aside when the Sunderland man tweaked his groin at Wembley yesterday morning.

Yet Capello, truly, is a lucky manager, and not just through being paid £6million a year for a job he often appears to be doing with his eyes closed, but also because Crouch does not harbour a grudge.

The Spurs striker knows that even if he scores a hat-trick tonight, he will still be back on the bench next month if Defoe or Bent is fit, but still comes back for more of the same, showing a desire to play for England that the manager does not deserve.

Not that Capello seems to recognise that, confirming Crouch's starting berth as an aside, more interested in talking about the changes it forces, damning his line leader with faint praise, and far warmer in his words for Kevin Davies, even though the Bolton man will be on the bench.

Capello said: "The style is completely different between Crouch and Bent or Defoe.

"The other two players, not Crouch, are about movement going forward. Crouch prefers to receive the ball and doesn't have a lot of pace.

"But I think we can play different styles. The movement of the other players will be very important.

"Some players, the wingers, will be very important now. They have to cross the ball."

Those wingers, too, are not the men Capello would have wanted to use, even if Johnson scored after coming off the bench against both Bulgaria and Switzerland.

But with Theo Walcott still injured and James Milner suspended, Capello will give the Manchester City man and Aston Villa flier Young their first competitive starts, just months after deeming neither of them fit for World Cup service.

Young did not even make Capello's provisional list last May, yet suddenly he and Johnson have been told they are central to this evening's result.

Capello added: "They will be really important, both of them. They play in a position on the pitch that is important.

"When we win the ball they have to try to dribble, to attack the space. They may be inexperienced but that is not a concern. The confidence of Adam is good and he's now played three or four games for England. Young has also played very well in a couple of games."

As for Davies, effectively Plan D in case it is all going wrong, Capello said: "I monitored him for a long time, two years. I saw a lot of games that he played.

"You have to be proud to play for England, to wear this shirt. For this reason, I was really happy when his wife cried when he told her he was selected. The passion of the people is important."

The injuries have forced Capello to field a side very different from the one he had planned, with Joleon Lescott retained alongside returning skipper - the decision was far less clear-cut than the Italian suggested - Rio Ferdinand at the back.

It does give a potential opportunity for Arsenal prodigy Jack Wilshere, who misses the under-21 play-off second leg in Romania to start on the bench this evening, with Capello adding: "He's here because we need a player like him."

What England need most of all, of course, is three points. Noises from the Montenegrin camp suggest that Zlatko Kranjcar's team are thinking of themselves as in pole position for the runners-up spot rather than potential group winners although Capello insisted: "They are a good team, defend well and are very dangerous on the counter-attack.

"Montenegro is a small country, with not a lot of people, but the quality of the players is good. How many people live in the country is less important than the quality of the players."