In Saturday’s Paper Round the Guardian's Kevin McCarra warned that although England had qualified for the 2010 World Cup manager Fabio Capello still had serious concerns in defence and in goal.

During England's 1-0 defeat to Ukraine both of those issues were highlighted in Dnipropetrovsk and McCarra uses his Sunday column in The Observer, not to say I told you so, but to further probe the problem areas.

"The red card for Robert Green was as much a refresher course as a hard lesson. He will be completely certain now that he must be at his most alert when Rio Ferdinand, on current international form, is the key defender. The Manchester United centre-back had passed the ball straight to Dirk Kuyt when presenting Holland with a goal in the draw two months ago. Ferdinand varied the repertoire here by avoiding a through-ball.

Green then conceded the penalty. There were happy consequences for a team-mate, although David James should keep a diplomatic silence. Having been brought on here, the wait for his 50th cap has been shortened. It will come at Wembley against Belarus on Wednesday. His international career has had its miseries and the landmark is a fine reward for his perseverance and, indeed, improvement.

He is aided, too, by the fact that challengers are now rare. James is pursuing a profession in which his countrymen have largely been floundering. A tradition has gone into hiding. The former England manager Graham Taylor was mentioning yesterday the great luck the country had enjoyed to be served over a span of two generations by a quartet of renowned goalkeepers."

On a domestic level English football isn't looking too healthy either. The News of the World have revealed that the Premier League is now £2.8 billion in debt. It might not be the most flowery prose available to read in the Sunday newspapers but Neil Ashton's 'exclusive' tells the tale in dramatic style.

"Billed by money-men as the Greatest Show on Earth, it was the chance to jump on English football's lucrative gravy train. Now it's Buyer Beware in the Barclay's Premier League. This is the story of top-flight football in 2009, the glory game based on boardroom power battles and murky transfer business.

It's balance sheets and wage bills, with AVERAGE top-flight salaries now £1million a year. Total player wages are on the verge of hitting £1BILLION a season.

Arsenal are one of a select group of clubs who tried to resist change, relying on the traditions of a family-run business to compete at the highest level. But they could become the seventh billionaire plaything if American Stan Kroenke ups his stake again and underwrites the club's £332m debt.

Liverpool are also vulnerable, lurching from crisis to crisis after the breakdown in the relationship between Americans George Gillett and Tom Hicks. Building work on their new super-stadium in Stanley Park came to a halt and they are creaking under nearly £300m of debt. One potential investor - Saudi prince Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdulla - is refusing to buy the club until they reduce their commitments.

Even Chelsea's future is no longer guaranteed, with chairman Bruce Buck admitting earlier this week that Abramovich could abandon the project."