Gareth Southgate has told his latest England squad not all of them deserve to be involved.
The Three Lions should book their place at the World Cup next week, when they face Slovenia and Lithuania, but manager Southgate admits some of the 26 who received the call on Thursday can consider themselves lucky.
England have a full shadow XI on the injured list, including players such as Danny Rose, Adam Lallana and Danny Welbeck, meaning the likes of Fabian Delph and Jesse Lingard - without a Premier League start between them this season - will be on duty.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Daniel Sturridge and Jermain Defoe might also admit they have yet to hit the peak of their powers and Southgate did not attempt to sugar-coat his own assessment.
"If you were to say 'am I entirely happy with the squad I've named?' then no, because we've got too many good players missing with injury," he said.
"We've got about 12 players missing with injury. It's incredible. The consequence of that is you could well argue there are one or two in the squad who haven't necessarily warranted it on their performances.
"There's a good challenge for those who are in next week because if they want to stay in the level has to be good."
In Pictures | England vs Slovakia | 04/09/2017
Striker Jamie Vardy's ongoing hip problem saw him left out of the double-header even though he is expected to play some part in Leicester's trip to Bournemouth this weekend.He is currently taking part in a limited training regime and Southgate is certain he would not be in the right condition to play a meaningful part for his country.
"He'd run through brick walls for us, no question," said Southgate. "But I have a responsibility to player as an athlete and I've never asked a player to play with an injury I've thought needed sorting."
