By John May

England boss McClaren ponders his next move

Fidel Castro probably did not have the England football team in mind when he stuck a Cuban cigar in the corner of his mouth and said: "Revolution is the struggle between the past and the future."

That, though, is exactly the dilemma facing England boss Steve McClaren in picking his team to face Spain.

For all the whiff of revolution in the air as McClaren mounts the barricades with talk of winning back the hearts and minds of England fans, he has been forced to compromise.

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Like all international managers with limited scope to look at players, he is caught in between the twin aims of winning with a stylish swagger and using the opportunity to experiment and inject fresh blood.

So how does each department of the team shape up to fulfil McClaren's twin desires to get the fans on his side, and to use a rare international opportunity to assess fringe players?

A good move to give Ben Foster his first cap. McClaren knows what Paul Robinson can do. If you're going to blood a young keeper, do it in a friendly, not in a European Championship qualifier.

John Terry's injury forced McClaren's hand and presented him with a golden opportunity to end Jonathan Woodgate's international exile.

The England boss will get some idea whether Woodgate can still cut it at international level as he comes in for his first cap since 2004.

Woodgate and Dyer are back after long international exiles

But Phil Neville's recall at left-back is a real nothing selection with Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge both out.

As well as he has played for Everton this season, Neville does not set the pulses racing and he is not a long-term solution. Why not start with Gareth Barry at left-back?

Michael Carrick's inclusion for his 12th cap in a midfield that already includes Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard smacks of a man with panels left over after he has finished assembling the flat-pack kitchen cabinets.

But it could provide McClaren with the answer to the thorny question of whether Gerrard and Lampard can play together.

Carrick will sit in front of the defence, allowing Lampard and Gerrard to operate as a two in a diamond with Kieron Dyer pushed forward.

Dyer has also impressed this season, and fully deserves his first call-up since March 2005.

What of Joey Barton? Surely the fire in his belly would have made him an ideal lieutenant in any mission to win hearts and minds?

A place in the second-half Long March of substitutes is the best he can hope for as McClaren fudges with an either-or midfield.

Trying to win the fans back? Only if they are fans of comedy with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Peter Crouch up front.

Again, the unavailability of Wayne Rooney, Andy Johnson, and Jermain Defoe has forced McClaren's hand.

But why not use the opportunity to have a look at somebody like Preston's David Nugent or Ashley Young, of Aston Villa, at full level instead of in the under-21s? Everyone loves to see a new face.

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho will be pleased with Wright-Phillips inclusion, It is not often a player is given the chance to rediscover his club form by playing for his country.

But if there is one thing guaranteed to dampen the ardour of the revolution it is McClaren's declaration that he will use all six substitutes.

Once, just once, you would like to see a manager pick the strongest side available to him in an international friendly, and barring injuries, stick with it for the full 90 minutes.

If the eyes see that, the hearts and minds will surely follow.