Roy Hodgson has hinted that Jack Wilshere could miss out on a place in England's Euro 2016 squad.
Michael Carrick earned plaudits for his recent showings against Lithuania and Italy, while Hodgson praised the likes of Ross Barkley and Andros Townsend following Tuesday's 1-1 draw in Turin.
Wilshere is currently sidelined with an ankle injury and is nearing a comeback but, with Jordan Henderson establishing himself as first choice and Fabian Delph starting both recent games, space is at a premium and competition for places intense.
"You [the media] made Jack Wilshere our best man in our matches in the autumn and I am sure he will have something to say," Hodgson told reporters.
"But I have always been an admirer of Michael's and am delighted to see him back. If both of them are fit I might have to a) find some way of tweaking the formations, or b) pick one of them. That'd be tough."
Hodgson, though, is careful to insist nothing has been decided on the make-up of any selection with over a year left to go before the tournament and qualification still to be confirmed.
"Until we can just go onto the field and it's in our backbone of knowing exactly what we want to do with the ball and without the ball, there's a lot of work still to do," he said.
"The team is changing all the time because people are coming in. I am really pleased to say the squad is getting stronger and I would like to think we will be capable of using all these players in the right way.
"If I was to pick a team today for the first game in France, of course I would have a team in my head but I would be very foolish to start talking about that before we are due to play - and we haven't even qualified."
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