Make or break for new boys

Darius Vassell is an example of a young player who has been given his big chance for this match.

We were at Aston Villa together. I watched him grow from being an apprentice into a highly promising first-team player. He has tremendous pace, he's strong and has good footwork. He has the ability to go past defenders by using a trick or two.

The lads at Villa thought he should have been given his chance in the first team earlier but when the chance finally came, he certainly grasped it.

David James should also get a chance to prove his worth against the Dutch and he's another player I know a fair bit about.

When he came to Villa, David had a reputation for being a bit of a casual trainer. In hindsight, that was very unjust because he is a very singleminded, motivated individual and a tremendous natural athlete.

The contest for the No1 England goalkeeper's jersey in the World Cup finals should be intriguing with David, Nigel Martyn and David Seaman fighting it out.

When the squad reported this time we were all given the results of the fitness tests we had before Christmas.

The monitoring will continue and I believe it will be even more intense than when Glenn Hoddle was in charge of England.

It makes sense to assess everyone separately because some of the players will have played 50 games by the end of the season and it's important they maintain their physical shape and that they're not over-trained.

Now is the time to make a mark though and this will be in all the players' minds.

Michael Owen really began to come to the fore at about this time before the 1998 World Cup and my own experience was similar before Euro '96.

I made my international debut against Portugal in December 1995, coming on for about 10 minutes and then played against Bulgaria the following March.

I missed the next friendly through injury but must have made an impression-because I played in every game in Euro '96 which proves that if you get that chance, make sure you take it.

Tonight's match will be difficult though. It was a big surprise that Holland didn't qualify and knowing the mentality of their players, they will have been greatly hurt by that.

They were certainly fired up for the match against us at White Hart Lane at the beginning of the season and I don't see it being any different tonight.

Sven-Goran Eriksson though, will be just as keen that we do well. He's been in the job a year and his only defeat so far was to the Dutch back in August.

There is no doubt he will want us to rectify that.