By Jonathan Stevenson BBC Sport at Old Trafford

England's penultimate game before the World Cup gets under way saw them beat Hungary 3-1 at Old Trafford.

John Terry, Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch got the goals but it was not all plain sailing for Sven-Goran Eriksson's side.

BBC Sport finds out what the coach will have learned from the international friendly.

With nine days before the start of the World Cup - coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's last tournament in charge of the England team - the Swede took the plunge and decided to abandon his favoured 4-4-2 formation.

Carragher was a surprise choice in midfield

Eriksson said in his programme notes before the Hungary game that accusations he had gambled on this England squad were false.

"I am not different," he said. "I have not changed. This is not an unusual squad for me."

Yet five-and-a-half-years of staying loyal to the same formation have been forgotten as the Swede's partly self-inflicted striker crisis has reached hazard levels.

Michael Owen will start the Paraguay game on 10 June up front whether he is 100% fit or not - and on Tuesday's showing it seems he has some work to do.

Eriksson has clearly decided that Peter Crouch's ability is best served from the bench, so without the talismanic Wayne Rooney it looks like 4-5-1 will be the formation.

Steven Gerrard's position is the most interesting one. Against Hungary he played off Michael Owen in perhaps the most attack-minded role the Liverpool star has ever had for club or country - and with just 10 days to get used to it.

Remarkably, Eriksson chose Liverpool central defender Jamie Carragher as the man to sit in the holding midfield position ahead of Tottenham's Michael Carrick, who has been playing splendidly there all season.

David Beckham and Joe Cole keep the wide midfield berths they enjoyed in the qualifying campaign with Frank Lampard in the centre, and the back five is as predicted, in personnel and structure.

When he brought Crouch and Theo Walcott on after the hour mark Eriksson went back to his 4-4-2 formation - and Joe Cole, for one, seemed to enjoy the greater attacking options as he bombed forward in the closing stages.

Perhaps the most criticism Eriksson has received during his England tenure has been for not making decisive substitutions when most urgently required.

At both the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004, the England coach was out-thought and out-manoeuvered by Luiz Felipe Scolari, first in charge of Brazil, then Portugal.

With the striker situation especially delicate this time around, Eriksson will need to be more aggressive and tactically adept when he turns to his bench for inspiration in Germany.

Crouch made a late impact for England

On a cold May evening in Manchester, the England coach reined in his natural instincts to make wholesale changes in a friendly and gave some indication of how he may try to change a game if, and when, England struggle.

Owen Hargreaves replacing injury victim Gary Neville at half-time and Sol Campbell coming on for John Terry with 15 minutes to go aside, it was Eriksson's 65th-minute double change that will provide the biggest talking point.

With Owen struggling in his lone role and Gerrard tiring in his floating one, the Swede took off his two most forward-thinking players and brought on Crouch and Walcott.

It would not be an exaggeration to suggest Crouch then enjoyed the best 25 minutes of his much-talked-about career.

The giant hitman gave the England attack real direction; making himself available for every pass, showing lovely footwork to hold the ball up and finding team-mates with unerring regularity.

Walcott was more subdued, but the teenager who became England's youngest ever international nearly got himself on the scoresheet with a snap-shot across goal in the dying stages.

If Eriksson is willing to gamble and change the focus of the attack so willingly in Germany, he could just surprise a team or two.

Jamie Carragher is a fabulous centre-half. Over the last two years he has been magnificent for Liverpool, the rock on which Reds boss Rafael Benitez has built his European Cup and FA Cup-winning teams.

But a central midfielder Carragher is not.

The job spec for the holding midfielder may essentially sound the same as centre-back - break up attacks, tackle as if your life depends on it and give the ball to the creative players who can hurt the opposition.

WORLD CUP FORM GUIDES Stewart Downing Jermaine Jenas Michael Carrick Ashley Cole Peter Crouch Sol Campbell

But Carragher struggled in an alien environment, trying to start the attacks and take the ball off the defenders himself to get England going when there are far more capable players in the side to do that.

At right-back after the break he looked much more assured and comfortable, and gave a typically dependable Carragher display.

Unfortunately for Eriksson, the holding role was looking like mission impossible for Hargreaves.

We are told on a regular basis that he is invaluable to Bayern Munich, that they would never dream of dropping him, such is his importance to the German giants.

Yet in an England shirt, in whatever position he plays, he looks clumsy - giving the ball away frequently and failing to make the vital tackles and interceptions which are a must in that position.

If Eriksson is deciding between Carragher and Hargreaves for the holding role and overlooking Carrick, he is making a mistake which could define his reign as coach.

The uncertainty in that position seems to be having an adverse effect on Lampard as well.

A box-to-box midfielder as fine as any in world football when wearing a Chelsea shirt, Lampard is not the player he should be at international level because he is insecure about his exact responsibility in the midfield four or five.

Unsure that he is being adequately covered when he bombs forward, equally unsure that the attack has enough support if he chooses not to, Lampard is continually caught between a rock and a hard place.

Eriksson must call upon Carrick so that Lampard can focus on how best to support Gerrard and Owen without worrying what he has left behind.

On the basis of the first 40 minutes, England have absolutely no chance of winning the World Cup.

Eriksson's side seemed content to stroll through the game as Hungary looked sharper in possession and passed around with alarming ease as they gave England a lesson in ball retention.

But after the break, England's quality told and their world-class players stepped up to the mark as they will need to in Germany.

Beckham and Gerrard offer a rare ability to create goalscoring positions out of nothing with dynamite dead-ball delivery and surging runs at the heart of the opposition's defence.

Those two are in fine form and much of England's hopes rest on their shoulders, but Eriksson has some huge choices to make between now and the meeting with Paraguay in Frankfurt.

If he wants to play a holding midfielder, and that now looks likely, he must choose Carrick ahead of Carragher or Hargreaves.

And in attack, he must reconsider using Owen as a lone striker because it is a role the Newcastle man simply cannot adjust to.

If he was fully fit he would struggle to give England the dimension Eriksson is looking for - his game is just not physical enough to cope with the attention.

Eriksson should consider playing the same side - plus Carrick - but with Cole and Gerrard both getting forward to support Owen, with Lampard and Beckham tucked into the midfield.

If he remains too cautious to do that and reverts to 4-4-2, Crouch has put himself at the front of a small queue to partner Owen.