Carragher content to fulfil demanding full-back role in England's hour of need

He is the man they are calling the best defender in the country - and only in the England team would a player with that kind of billing find himself played out of position. But Jamie Carragher has become accustomed to being the spare chair in a national side that desperately wants to accommodate him, if only it had the room.

Against Israel on Saturday, Carragher will surely be in the first XI, the only question for Steve McClaren, the England manager, is whether it is at right-back or, more likely, left-back.

The Liverpool centre-half has had a season in which he has won the battle with Barcelona's Ronaldinho over two games - and how many can say that? - but still waits third in the queue for a place in the centre of his own country's defence. In the warm-up to the last World Cup he was still being played as a holding midfielder by Sven Goran Eriksson, so at least he is getting closer to the position he knows best.

Carragher is a student of the game, and one of its deeper thinkers when it comes to tactical nuances and world football, and England weeks have often stretched out ahead of him with dismal boredom. A key player at Liverpool and yet, with England, always, it seems, destined to be one of the shadow XI putting the first team through their paces. At least for Israel and Andorra he can count upon being left-back in Tel Aviv and possibly right-back in Barcelona four days' later.

It was Carragher's performance against Barcelona and Manchester United in the Premiership that drew particular praise from McClaren - "the best of the season" - although he is still, you feel, a long way from breaking up the John Terry and Rio Ferdinand partnership. Even against Spain last month he had to take a step back in the queue to allow Jonathan Woodgate a rare game at centre-back alongside Ferdinand.

"I am doing all right but at the moment Liverpool are doing well, especially in the Champions League and because it's the Champions League, it creates media interest around the world so you probably get a bit more attention," Carragher said. "I wasn't aware of his [McClaren's] comments but that is a nice thing for the manager to say. Hopefully, he will pick me.

"I will have to do a lot of work on the training ground because playing left-back at Liverpool is something I haven't done for a while. I played left-back for one season and didn't do too badly. It is more demanding. I played full-back at the World Cup and you could tell the difference. Physically, you have to get up and down the pitch. Centre-back is more of a mental thing."

The season in question at left-back for Liverpool was 2000-2001 when they went on to win the FA Cup, Uefa Cup and Worthington Cup which was, to reflect Carragher's assessment, not too bad at all. At the World Cup, however, he found himself shifted around again - mainly as a right-back to cover for the injured Gary Neville against Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden. And then he was dropped in favour of Owen Hargreaves, who played in that role against Ecuador.

With that kind of treatment playing for England, Carragher could be forgiven if he thought that it is not always worth the bother. "When the draw was done, Israel away was always going to be a big game but now that we haven't got as many points as we'd have liked it's very big," he said.

"They are going to put us under pressure with a hostile crowd but those England players who have played in the Champions League in Europe are used to those kinds of atmospheres. Everyone is saying it should be a difficult game and of course it will be but great atmospheres and being under pressure is what you should thrive on."

He has been here before already this season with Liverpool as their season teetered on the brink against Barcelona and before they hauled it back by knocking the holders out of the Champions League. In fact, Carragher could even joke about Liverpool's Portugal training camp - "that went well" - made notorious by Craig Bellamy's attack on John Arne Riise with a golf club.

"When Liverpool went to Barcelona, we were told that if we lost the season would be all over and that if we lost one goal, we would lose three or four," he said. "It is those type of matches that you are in the game for."

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