Capello ignored the pair for the recent Euro 2012 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Wales, opting to not even hand them a place on the bench.

As the Italian emerged from a narrow escape against the Welsh to declare he knew in the warm-up the evening was going to go badly wrong, it suggests he made a mistake.

However, though he has no doubt over the duo's attributes, Capello is wary of throwing them into the fray too quickly.

So, despite his reservations, he will rely on experience to get England through against Montenegro on October 7.

Then, providing the Three Lions have collected the point required to book a Finals ticket next summer, Capello will give youth a chance when Spain head to Wembley for a planned November friendly.

"They will play in the next friendly games," said Capello.

"They will play. Possibly in a really short time.

"I remember (Jack) Wilshere. When he started the season he was not OK. In November he was.

"Good players don't have an age. The quality of these players is more important.

"If we qualify, it will be an important chance for these players to play."

With two friendlies likely in November, and the postponed visit of Holland - presently the top-ranked side in the world - to Wembley already pencilled in for February, Capello will have a chance to work out whether the players who alarmed him so much with their lacklustre warm-up routine on Tuesday can be revived or whether youth will provide the basis for England's Euro 2012 quest.

"We didn't play a good game," said Capello. "We played for 20 minutes, 15 minutes.

"The level of this team is better than that; the level we play away. The level here, something happens, and it is not the same."

Worryingly for those such as Frank Lampard, James Milner and Gareth Barry, who have been fingered as being responsible for Tuesday's troubling display, Capello has reached a conclusion.

"It will be different the next games we play. It will be interesting if the result will be good. The next games we play here will be against really fantastic teams like Spain and Holland.

"It is impossible to change," he said.

"This happened in my career. I went to see the warm-up, of the opponents and my team. I understood a lot of things always. It is my job."

Someone with rather less to worry about is Ashley Young, axed from Capello's provisional World Cup squad but, fitness permitting, now certain to make it to Poland and Ukraine - providing England do.

"Ashley Young can play in both positions, as a second forward, behind Rooney or someone else, and also left wing," Capello enthused.

"He is a good player. He has a lot of qualities. Technically he is good. He is fast. He has a good imagination. He scores goals. He shoots with his left or right."

It took a member of the FA's media team to step in and claim Capello had respect for Aston Villa when he offered his final assessment of Young's improvement.

Clearly though, just as he felt Villa was a better home than Sunderland for Darren Bent, Capello has no doubt Young is a better player merely for being at Manchester United.

"I respect Aston Villa. I respect all the teams but when you play with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, you are playing with the top five or six teams in the world.

"When you play for a really important team you have a lot of confidence. You improve, improve, improve.

"The quality of the players around you is higher and the pressure you play under in every game is normal."