England Manager Fabio Capello Must Be Becoming a Manchester City Fan

Fabio Capello was not at Eastlands to witness Manchester City's 3-0 demolition of Liverpool, but his trusted right hand man Franco Baldini was and he must have liked what he saw.

There were no fewer than nine potential England internationals in the starting lineups and there would have presumably been one more had Joe Cole not gotten himself suspended.

Manchester City have come under fire for the speed with which they are acquiring players and the willingness to discard anyone who does not make an instant impact. There were fears that as Roberto Mancini added more and more top-class English talent to the squad, too much of it would end up sitting on the bench.

The side that he named on Monday night and the performance of the English players in question should go a long way towards silencing these doubts. Arsene Wenger has been vehement in his opposition to the new homegrown rule. His argument is simple; if young players are good enough, they will eventually get their chance and when they do they will benefit from having world-class internationals playing alongside them.

This was certainly the case for Adam Johnson, James Milner, Gareth Barry, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, and Joe Hart last night. All of them could conceivably start for England and all of them did enough to justify their selection by Mancini ahead of the likes of Emmaunuel Adebayor, Shay Given, David Silva, and Pablo Zabaleta.

The news was not so good for some other potential England prospects. Shaun Wright-Phillips at least made the bench, unlike Wayne Bridge and Michael Johnson. But, as Wenger would probably argue, these players are not in the starting XI because they are simply not as good as the likes of Richards, Barry, and Milner.

Having a top-four side which consists overwhelmingly of domestic players can only help the development of a national team. While their motivation might have been entirely self-serving, Manchester City still deserve credit for pursuing a policy of recruiting homegrown talent.

Wenger has come in for criticism for his preference for overseas players but he is working under strict financial constraints at Arsenal and everyone knows that English players come at a premium.

Manchester City could have done their shopping elsewhere and must have been tempted to do so after watching Inter Milan dominate Europe without a single Italian player in the team. Yet they chose to sign Milner despite a price tag more befitting of an established world-class international than a promising up-and-coming player with one productive season under his belt.

Mancini has shown sufficient faith in Milner to sign him and select him ahead of the likes of Silva and Adebayor and he was rewarded with a fine debut performance from the young Englishman.

Milner was actually outshone by Johnson on the opposite flank, who is well on his way to establishing himself as one of the top wingers in the Premiership. His rise has been nothing short of meteoric and it is doubtful his career would have developed so quickly at any club other than Manchester City.

Seeing how effectively Milner and Johnson worked in tandem with Carlos Tevez must have had Bandini wondering about a similar attacking trident with Rooney, rather than Tevez, at the sharp end.

Barry seems a guaranteed starter for Manchester City and his game can only benefit from playing alongside Yaya Toure and Nigel De Jong this season. The former showed glimpses against Liverpool of the talent which supposedly made Alex Ferguson try and tempt him to the red side of Manchester. The latter is always industrious, whether for club and country, and the three of them are a formidable midfield unit.

Richards and Lescott will feel that they are playing for their places, particularly with Alexsandar Kolarov and Jerome Boateng waiting in the wings, but the fact that Adebayor and Silva were not in the side shows that Manchester City is a meritocracy.

Mancini seems intent on picking the best players regardless of their price tag and Richards will feel that if he continues to perform at a good level he has an excellent change of him keeping his place in the side.

Lescott is more of an auxiliary left back and his long term future if probably at centre back. Defensively he is sound but he does not provide the pace or skill going forward which Manchini would probably expect from a full back. At least he is getting playing time and a series of good performances might be enough to persuade Mancini to switch him to centre back once Kolarov and Boateng come into contention.

Perhaps the biggest bonus Capello has received from Mancini this season is the surprise selection of Hart ahead of Given. The Irishman can count himself extremely unfortunate to miss out having barely put a foot wrong for the club but Hart has seized his opportunity with both hands. He was outstanding against Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day and made a couple of smart saves to deny Liverpool.

Capello might not have been at Eastlands on Monday night but he is sure to be a regular visitor this season. At a time when the future of English football is looking a little bleak Manchester City's England contingent offer considerable cause for optimism.