England’s season is now finished completely after a peaceful — and utterly useless — friendly against Ireland, as well as a frighteningly exciting affair against a frisky Slovenia side. It seems an appropriate time to take stock of how the squad is evolving one year away from Euro 2016. The tournament held in France will be the measuring stick for Hodgson for which no excuses will be made to cover inadequacy. He had a free shot at Euro 2012 and the World Cup was a disappointment but once you peeled back the initial layers of outrage at a group stage exit, there were little bits of hope to excavate from the ruins if you were willing to look hard enough. However even some of these have been marred by recent events (looking at you, Raheem). But it’s hard to see the FA sticking with the former West Brom boss if the side fails to show improvement. There has to be something there to take from the tournament, be it a quarter-final at the very least, because the safety net is well and truly gone. So Hodgson is facing the most pressure he ever has to shape his squad to an optimum level. But it’s coincided with the most difficult period of time during Hodgson’s reign, in terms of injuries and simple lack of talent. Realistically England do not have the talent of sides who are expecting to win the tournament — Germany, Spain, maybe Belgium — but Hodgson has viable options to make a deep run in the tournament.

Goalkeepers

Unsurprisingly the least interesting of all squad developments. Joe Hart had a standard Joe Hart season by Joe Hart standards. Excellent Champions League performance against elite competition? Yep. Mistake that leads to dropped points in the league? Yep. Questionable manager decision to use 2nd string keeper ahead of him? Yep. All that was missing were the anti-dandruff adverts. In all honesty Hart is still one of the bright spots of the team, his quality emphasised by a dearth of passable backups. In other news, Jack Butland had a short spell of starts for Stoke City at the end of the year but nothing consistent.

Fullbacks

The right-back spot has been a difficult problem to solve. One thing is certain, neither Chris Smalling or Phil Jones should be played there. It’s anyone’s guess as to whether Hodgson will play either of this pair or waste a midfielder there. But as far as conventional right-backs, Nathaniel Clyne looks the best bet, but he was passive in his debut against Slovenia and never improved. The Saints’ right-back must be more aggressive going forwards, but this would appear not to be his greatest strength. Perhaps Kieran Trippier will sneak into the discussion, but this is actually the most difficult position to predict for England’s Euro 2016 team.

Leighton Baines endured a torrid season for an Everton side that regressed massively as a collective unit. As a result his spot in the England team is no longer a certainty, as brief as that period was. Kieran Gibbs with his combination of injuries and decidedly average ability on both ends of the pitch cannot get into Arsenal’s team over Nacho Monreal. Ryan Bertrand surprisingly put together an impressive season in a stellar Saints defence after piquing no-one’s interest the season before at Aston Villa. Luke Shaw’s is undoubtedly the best prospect here but his constant injury problems are concerning, as well as van Gaal’s partiality to Daley Blind. Aaron Cresswell was in contention for the left-back spot in the Team of the Season, but may possibly be cursed by West Ham’s ability to have players that remain forever on the brink of the national set-up. Danny Rose fooled no one trying to impersonate a quality left back this season.

If healthy, Clyne and Shaw provide an optimum balance, while bringing an athleticism England have lacked in the fullback spots for some time. Baines’ left-footed deliveries are still tempting enough for selection, but Shaw is 80% the attacking force Baines is and twice the defender.

Centre Backs

The area where England’s lack of talent is really starting to show. It’s become fashionable to say there are no good central defenders anymore. But even when keeping this is mind, England is still falling behind in this department. Gary Cahill is the closest quality defender knock-off. His place in a title-winning defence is a good sign, the fact he looks unimproved since 3 years ago isn’t. Also, keep an eye out for Kurt Zouma who put Cahill under serious pressure this season. Mourinho when he came back to Chelsea liked Cahill because he wasn’t David Luiz and will not hesitate to replace him just because he’s English. Chris Smalling emerged as Cahill’s latest partner following a slew of poor performances put out by the visibly declining Phil Jagielka. Smalling made himself a semi-consistent starter, but remains uncertain on the ball which doesn’t bode well for England given their long-standing issues with keeping possession in challenging matches. Phil Jones is fast becoming a sad example of what injuries can do to a prospect and he looks out of sorts at all positions right now. Most notable appearance with England this season was a failed defensive midfield experiment against Italy. Manchester United’s youthful pair that looked to be the future of the national set-up but are struggling to keep themselves afloat at club level.

A much larger question concerns this spot: John Terry. While many will choose to bemoan Hodgson’s choice to completely rule out Terry’s return, some of those same people will ask England to look to the future with younger players. You can’t have both. If Terry plays, then his natural partner is Cahill and that’s fine. But Chelsea have played with Matic sitting right in front of those two. Hodgson has shown in the past season that he has two formations: 4-3-3 and the diamond, both of which have a fluid midfield with none of the three obliged to exclusively protect the defence. So why should England have to completely dismiss a season’s worth of work to restructure their team around a defender in his mid-30s? Terry’s form has been outstanding. That is not up for debate. His place in an England side that has moved on, albeit not progressed, is. Hodgson has made his mind up, it’s time the rest of us all did too.

Cahill is one of the first names on the team sheet for Hodgson and fitness abiding will be on the plane to France, make of that what you will. But his partner for Euro 2016 seems like a choice between Smalling and John Stones. If the Everton defender can have an injury free campaign in an Everton side likely to bounce back, the recency bias will be in his favour come next summer. Old Trafford looks set to welcome another wave of premium imports, Smalling and Jones will need a long overdue breakout season to establish themselves once more for the Red Devils.