Euro 2012 Qualifiers: Rooney's rampant but be wary of Wales

Form is temporary, class is permanent. We all know that. The difficulty is working out why and when.

The Wayne Rooney who pulled Bulgaria to pieces on Friday night, and who helped destroy Arsenal a week or two ago, is a very different animal to the one who spent last summer in South Africa looking like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum.

The World Cup model of Rooney would have moaned about the stones on the Sofia pitch, rather than relishing the challenge of winning a game despite the conditions. He'd have lapped up a ready made excuse to perform poorly and then blamed a bad result on everybody else. This Rooney is the one we always wanted him to be. He´s bristling with enthusiasm and desire, and channeling the fearsome will to win that has sometimes got him in trouble in the right direction.

Who knows what has brought the change. Rooney reckons it´s because he had a complete off season rest, ignoring the fitness men at Manchester United who had set him a summer schedule and instead taking six weeks off training altogether. It might equally be that he´s had a proper preseason to leave the final scars of last year´s injuries behind him. Either way it makes you wish you´d got on him at 4.3100/30 to be the Premier League´s top English goalscorer, as somebody did during the summer, instead of the 1.625/8 he is now.

In contrast, somebody backed Andy Carroll in the same market at 5.79/2. Good luck. Liverpool´s £35m striker is now a lay of 24.023/1 and can´t get in his new club team, let alone a chance with England. Fabio Capello has had to come out publicly and warn him about his drinking, in a reminder of Graham Taylor´s references to Gazza's "refuelling habits".

Capello had done exactly the right thing by leaving Carroll out of his team. He'd observed who was on song and who wasn't and had picked his side accordingly. That meant Gary Cahill was the obvious choice to partner John Terry in defence, and Frank Lampard who had started the season slowly with Chelsea had to stay on the bench. It was a flashback to how the Italian worked when he first took over, ignoring reputations and going on the evidence of his eyes, and it brought a freshness to England´s team.

The challenge now is to follow that up with another win over Wales tomorrow night, which ought to be a formality. But you never know. I was in Cardiff on Friday to see Gary Spèed's team secure their first competitive home win in three years, and there are danger signs for England - most notably in the return to form of another player who had been terribly out of touch.

Gareth Bale collected the PFA Player of the Year award last season, but in truth it should have been recorded with a footnote that said "to be honest, player of half a year". The Tottenham midfielder enjoyed an amazing few months at the start of the campaign, but from January onwards injuries took their toll.

Now, much like Rooney, he´s fit and flying again and the Montenegro defence couldn´t cope with him running at them. With Craig Bellamy suspended he´s likely to switch from the right where he played in Cardiff to operate on the left at Wembley, and that will be a severe test for rookie right back Chris Smalling. I´d still expect England to win, but I don´t think it will be as easy as it was in Bulgaria, and laying England/England in the half time/full time market at 1.548/15 looks the best bet of the night.

The new format of two qualifying matches in four days means the first game will inevitably effect performance in the second, and that´s a fear for Scotland. Craig Levein´s side suffered a familiar tale of Hampden Park woe and bad luck against the Czechs. With Kenny Miller missing tomorrow it could just affect their form and 1.674/6 to beat Lithuania is not one to back with confidence.

In fact, apart from England and Wales it was a disappointing weekend for the British nations. Northern Ireland´s fantasy of qualifying appears to be over, and the Republic too are running out of time.