We heard on BBC Radio 5ive Live this morning that England manager Fabio Capello is considering trying out a new three man central defence should Gareth Barry not win his race to be fit in time for the World Cup in South Africa.

But is less than a month before the tournament begins the right time to start tinkering with a tried and tested system when the other option is to simply replace Barry with the next best player?

You would have to say no. Yet at the same time, you’d be a fool to question a Capello decision based on what he’s done so far. The man himself was very bullish yesterday, saying that only reaching the final would be a success for England. With confidence like that, perhaps we should put some trust him.

So how would a new look England line up? Switching from 4-4-2 to 3-5-2 has been tried before. When England lost 2-0 to Croatia under Steve McLaren that’s how they lined up. We hope under Capello it will prove to be more of a success.

Could England line up like this on June 12th?

The three central defenders, assuming full fitness, would likely be Rio Ferdinand on the left, John Terry in the centre and Matthew Upson on the right – with Ledley King perhaps getting the nod ahead of Upson if Capello thinks he’s fit enough. We’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Midfield, then, is where the really interesting options lie. With five places to play with the possibilities are nearly endless. We would expect Gerrard to revert to his preferred central role from the left alongside Lampard but this in itself causes an issue – they haven’t always performed well together for the Three Lions, even Capello has only really managed to fit them both in by putting Gerrard out left.

However, with another central midfielder in there, perhaps the question of who is responsible for what will be more or less answered and the two of them can concentrate on what they do best. Who that third midfielder will be is interesting. He would certainly need to be more defensively minded than Gerrard and Lampard.

Looking at the provisional 30-man squad that means one from Michael Carrick, Tom Huddlestone or Scott Parker. Is it just us or does that list not make comfortable reading? Carrick has had a relatively poor season and the other two are just plain untried at international level. Based on that, we think Capello would go with Carrick.

Flanking a Gerrard-Carrick-Lampard core we now have the question of wing backs. Again, we look at the provisional squad and see a choice of Ashley Cole, Adam Johnson or Joe Cole on the left side. It’s, as always, a weak area for England but if you need someone to cover the three man defence and get forward to support the strikers then surely the only real choice is Ashley Cole? You wouldn’t trust Joe Cole to defend too much or put faith in the young Johnson.

Over on the right, however, Capello has a plethora of players to choose from. Glen Johnson, Leighton Baines, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Aaron Lennon, Theo Walcott and James Milner are all right-sided wide men of one type or another. If you follow the Ashley Cole logic then it’s likely that Johnson would get the nod ahead of the rest, but both Leighton Baines and James Milner can provide defensive as well as attacking qualities.

And should England need to switch to a more attacking style during a game Capello would have the option of introducing the likes of Joe Cole and Aaron Lennon in place of the more defensive minded players he would probably start with. Up front, of course, will be Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey, both hoping that such a strong midfield – on paper at least – will be able to provide them with the ammunition they need, both through the channels and from the wing.

The five man midfield, while opening a lot of difficult questions, does also give flexibility during a game.

That said, we think it’s a risk. Time and again a three man defence has been shown to be particularly vulnerable, especially at international level (though we concede it worked to a point at Italia 90). And with the World Cup so close England don’t have much time to implement, practice and get the system right. We’re not saying Capello can’t achieve it – but it will be hard.

Expect some interesting line ups and formations in the two warm up matches against first Mexico then Japan. Unless, of course, Gareth Barry gets fit and Capello can stick to his preferred 4-4-2, in which case all this talk and this article in particular was a complete waste of time!

What do you think – should Capello try a 3-5-2 formation or should he stick to what he – and England – knows? Let us know in the comments.