The fallout from the reserves' defeat to Brazil continues and it's the Times' Patrick Barclay who claims that Fabio Capello's job has just been made a whole lot easier as he looks to bring down his squad to the magic 23.

To the margins, on the stark evidence of his reserves’ merciful defeat by a Brazil near full strength, had been consigned Darren Bent, Joleon Lescott, Jermaine Jenas and Shaun Wright-Phillips; they ought to make contingency plans for holidays next June. As for the families and close friends of Matthew Upson and James Milner, the best advice would be to book something in South Africa, but avoid game-drives on match days.

So does Fabio know his squad already? Barclay thinks that he does.

The manager knows his team and the nine who did not appear alongside Wayne Rooney and Gareth Barry against Brazil were David James, Glen Johnson, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard, David Beckham or Theo Walcott, Steven Gerrard and Emile Heskey.

The shadow team now appear to be along these lines: Robert Green or Ben Foster, with the loser also to travel as third goalkeeper; Owen Hargreaves (if fully restored after tendinitis), Wes Brown, Upson and Wayne Bridge; Michael Carrick, Beckham or Walcott, Joe Cole and Milner in midfield; and, up front, Peter Crouch. Finished counting yet? Yes, the single place this leaves would be for Jermain Defoe, back to his least impressive in Doha, to defend against such a challenge as Michael Owen might muster or the prospect of Aaron Lennon’s pace being used with, rather than as an alternative to, that of Walcott.

Meanwhile, over at The Independent, Sam Wallace is conducting his own public information campaign to keep young stars on the straight and narrow.

The new young must-have English footballer is Jack Rodwell at Everton. He is 18, an England Under-21 midfielder for whom Chelsea have offered £14m already. But don't worry: Manchester United and Manchester City are making their own discreet enquiries and before long the price and the add-ons and the wages will rise. So, will it be a big house in Surrey or a big house in Cheshire? Will it be nights out with Lampsy and JT or nights out with Wazza and Rio? Here's a radical suggestion for young Master Rodwell: stay at Everton.

Wallace wants young Jack to ignore the usual trend of the big-money move before he is ready and hopes that the fact he is playing regularly for Everton will be enough to keep his feet on the ground.

Rodwell is already at Everton. He has time and he does not need his career to be shaped by the psychotic impulse in clubs such as Chelsea to harvest the best young players and stockpile them on the off chance that they might turn into superstars. If his career continues on its present trajectory he has to trust that the financial rewards will come.

As Wenger famously said to Nicolas Anelka before he left Arsenal in 1999, for all the riches available to young footballers they can only sleep in one bed at a time and drive one car at a time. In a sport awash with money for the talented few, the really important thing is knowing what is truly valuable. Rodwell should be playing at Old Trafford on Saturday. No price can be put on that.