Villa favourite Ian Taylor warns striker Gabby Agbonlahor that big thing is what happens next and recalls the dreaded early kick-off facing the team this Saturday.

It’s not how you start it’s how you finish – and I hope that means Gabby Agbonlahor is feeling quite satisfied with his England performance last night.

In playing such a key role in creating that first goal, Gabby gave Fabio Capello the perfect reminder of what he can bring to a team with that sudden burst of pace and a fairly composed cross from a player still relatively inexperienced, but clearly aware that the Belarus game was a big night for him.

Some will say he needed to do more but Capello will have watched with an understanding eye – England never really flowed last night and not all of that could have been down to the Villa striker.

More important, is how Gabby goes from here. He has done enough to get himself back in the pecking order for places among the forwards in next summer’s World Cup squad. That is good enough for now. But how players are faring means little compared to how important their form will be come February, March and the business end of the season.

That’s when the going gets tough for everyone and Gabby’s hopes will be put to the acid test.

Although it is reckoned our pool of strikers is not as good as it should be – try telling that to the lads bidding for a place. Jermain Defoe, Michael Owen, Darren Bent, Carlton Cole, Peter Crouch, Emile Heskey, Theo Walcott and so on. Not forgetting the surprise package – there’s always one – who will emerge between now and June.

No, I think Gabby did as well as he could expect to last night, although it was probably an even better evening for James Milner.

I think Capello likes him and giving him a run-out at left-back after Wayne Bridge went off with a groin injury, when he had more obvious options, were the actions of a man looking to find reasons why he should pick Milner for his squad.

Wouldn’t you know it? The lad pops up, sends a defender the wrong way and clips a shot on to the post. Every time Capello has given James a task he has risen to the challenge and I think that counts a lot in the England coach’s way of thinkin

But no-one is wrong in the Emile Heskey debate. You can see where the player is coming from. It doesn’t look good reporting for England and wanting the chance to continue his successful partnership with Wayne Rooney when the best he can do at Aston Villa is get a place on the bench.

Neither can you blame Capello for his approach to this dilemma. He’s been as loyal as he dare to while not making a special case out of it. But he does not mess around when it comes to tough decisions and there is no way that Emile can claim to be reporting for England games in good shape when he isn’t starting for Villa.

Come the next game, which is the prestige clash with the Brazilians in Qatar during the play-off dates next month, Capello will have no option but to change his starting XI if Emile’s position has not changed.

Then there’s Martin O’Neill – you can’t blame him for his approach either. You cannot blame him for his team selection. Gabby Agbonlahor and John Carew have established themselves as the first two choices among his strikers.

They have built up an understanding and Carew, whose game bears the most obvious similarity to Emile’s, has scored goals when it has mattered. He is also a big, big favourite with supporters.

Whenever Emile has got in the team, injuries have interrupted his progress. No, you can’t blame the Villa boss for the decisions which have brought about this deadlock.

It’s difficult at this point to see an immediate solution. When the chance to move from Wigan to Villa came up last January, it looked an ideal transfer at a time when his career was flourishing again and he had re-ignited his England career with some superb performances alongside Rooney.

But it hasn’t worked out that way for him and, sadly, it has been one long frustration.

Emile’s not a trouble-maker; he’s not a pro who likes rocking the boat. For him to have spoken publicly about his difficulties in the middle of an England trip shows the depths of his frustration at where he finds himself.

I can imagine that Martin would have much preferred these discussions to have taken place behind closed doors in the manager’s office. But the cat is out of the bag now and Villa have to deal with it.

Personally, I think the manager will play it cool. He will know, as he has pointed out, that there is so much football between now and the World Cup, anything, literally anything, could happen.

How you’re playing in March is probably more important than how you are playing in November.

Who knows? What if Carew or Gabby picks up an injury on Saturday? Suddenly, the vacancy is there and it will be up to Emile to make something of it.

Not that I would wish that upon any player and especially when the opponents are Chelsea. I feel sorry for all the lads on Saturday, because if there is one thing that used to throw me during my playing days it was these early kick-off times, which Villa have for this match.

Everything was wrong – my body just did not feel right. I imagine the fans get a sense of it as well, turning up for a match at 11 or 12 o’clock when it should be 3pm. But otherwise, I am quite upbeat about our chances.

We have done well against the big boys at home and registered a good performance against Manchester City last time out. No, I feel we can play well – but we are going to have to.

Chelsea remain my tip for the title and have been from the outset. Manchester United are missing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, while Chelsea simply have the strongest squad.

My biggest worry for Villa is that they had that blip a couple of weeks back at Wigan – and these teams don’t tend to have more than one setback in quick succession.