England's comfortable World Cup qualifying campaign leaves Sarina Wiegman in the dark on key issue

Millie Bright is an excellent defender, possessing all things you need to be a top class centre back, not that you would have had cause to question that against Austria because she did not have to be any of those things.

This was a proud day for the Chelsea player. Her first game as England captain in the absence of the injured Steph Houghton and Leah Williamson. It is a day she and her family will cherish.

But no England captain has had an easier first game in charge, since, well, Williamson made her first appearance as skipper against North Macedonia just two months ago.

It has all been too easy and while that should not be a reason to attack anyone, it is a concern as the European Championship loom on the horizon.

England’s defence is simply not being asked to do the things defenders have to do in crucial games. They have not been put under pressure, they have not been examined in the air and they have not been stretched on the ground.

England’s centre backs have been so underworked in this World Cup qualifying campaign they could have taken turns to sit on the sidelines and nobody would have noticed.

Austria did at least manage a shot on target, the first England have allowed since North Macedonia managed one in their first game under new manager Sarina Wiegman. It took them until the second half, a shot that was well saved by Hannah Hampton. From the resulting corner, Austria had another effort on target.

But just as you cannot say how good a goalkeeper is if they do not have a save to make, you cannot assess a defender if they do not have any defending to do.

Austria’s corner was their second of the game and two more than England had conceded in the four previous lopsided victories over North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Luxembourg and Latvia.

Austria were, as expected, better than that. They are England’s opening fixture at the Euros next summer, but even a side which has qualified for a tournament could only ask a few basic questions and only for a few minutes after half time.

It is a problem. England are not being pushed and a defence which had begun to disintegrate under Wiegman’s predecessor Phil Neville is not being put under stress or strain.

It is impossible to know whether a weakness is being addressed or just hidden. An issue that can be ignored now, will not be so easily brushed aside when they come up against stronger opponents in the knockout rounds of the Euros.

If England project the same air of vulnerability and are still too easy to score against from crosses and set pieces as they were during their post World Cup slump, they will not progress into the latter rounds. Teams like France, Spain, Sweden, Holland and Germany will expose them and a five-year plan designed to culminate in England winning the Euros on home soil will have failed to deliver what it was supposed to.

No clearer to knowing England's best centre-back pairing

Bright has been an integral part of the England backline for all of that time. She is a better player, comfortable on the ball, more experienced. But if she has improved, the defence as a unit has gone backwards and even at the World Cup in 2019 it was not the same source of strength and confidence it had been when reaching the semi finals of the World Cup in 2015 and the Euros in 2017.

Certainly, Bright’s once formidable partnership with captain Houghton no longer looks unbreakable. In Houghton’s lengthy absence with an Achilles injury, Arsenal’s Williamson not only took her spot in the team but the armband too. The 24-year-old is younger, has better range of passing and has probably been the best domestic centre back in the WSL this season until a hamstring injury also ruled her out for this round of international games.

In turn, although Bright was captain in Sunderland and at the age of 28 is in the peak years of her career, she could still not keep her place when the other two return.

It may be a good thing. It is all very well having a pecking order but as good as the Houghton-Bright partnership once looked, it was part of the problem during that post World Cup demise.

Of the three, Houghton is at a disadvantage. The 33-year-old is at that awkward age when everyone starts to wonder how much longer she can hold off younger players.

The fact she will not be back playing for Manchester City until the start of next year does not help. If there were doubts about her form before her Achilles injury, there are also reasons to worry about how much more her body can take. Serious injuries tend to lead to niggling ones the older you get.

Will Wiegman value Houghton’s tournament experience and leadership enough for her to come straight back in when fit or does the fact she has made both Bright and Williamson captains hint at a changing of the guard?

Houghton remains a fine defender and Wiegman will base her decision on form, especially so close to a tournament on form. She is not building for the future when Euros are just eight months away.

She must hope the competition brings out the best in all three centre backs because these qualifiers have not done it for her or them.

The Lionesses have not defended brilliantly since Wiegman arrived because they have not had any proper defending to do.

Bright has been more prominent in the opposition box than her own, with three goals. Her threat from set pieces is a weapon, but adds value to the argument she should start at centre back, rather than settle it.

Austria were no more capable of testing Bright with sustained pressure than any of the other teams England had beaten comfortably in this qualifying campaign.

There was no probing, no cause for concern, nothing to show Bright in a favourable or a negative light. She wore the armband, led the team well, but in terms of evaluating her performance, there was nothing for Wiegman to go at.

England have won five games in a row without conceding a goal, but have not answered any of the questions that needed to be asked. Until the defence has to defend, Wiegman will remain in the dark. We know Bright is a good defender, but all we have to prove how good she is are memories.