A message to the Twickenham boo boys: patience please. Martin Johnson is setting off on a journey that ends in New Zealand in 2011. It's not a sprint. Building a winning side takes time. Ask Sir Clive Woodward - his 2003 World Cup winners weren't exactly overnight successes. So cut the new man a little slack this autumn.
Instead of exercising the larynx in the manner of an irritable Wembley crowd, seemingly a thing of the past, bring the grey cells into play. Eschew short-termism, try looking to the future, even if it's sometimes difficult to see beyond the immediate demands.
On successive Saturdays, starting next week, Johnson's men play the Pacific Islands, Australia, South Africa and finally New Zealand - matches that will dictate England's place in the world standings and consequently their World Cup seeding. Two wins is probably par for the course, three would be good. So far not a lot has gone Johnson's way bar the order of play.
Given the opposing quartet, getting the Pacific Islands first up is about the best that could hoped for when victories are an immediate concern but bedding in a new team is the overriding priority. However, in spite of the injuries which always seem to dog England and the need to rotate players - no one should play four consecutive Test Saturdays - I'm pretty hopeful that the next month will provide an outline, possibly even the skeleton, of a side capable of long-term success.
We'll know the England starting line-up next Tuesday, but I already expect it to be littered with partnerships on which Johnson will build - the most obvious of them being the midfield and its link to the forwards. When Johnson sent Olly Barkley and Dan Hipkiss back to their clubs this week, it signalled that England were preparing to give Riki Flutey his international debut outside Danny Cipriani, a logical inside-centre/fly-half pairing considering their club partnership and the way England's attack coach, Brian Smith, says he intends to play.
I have absolutely no doubt that Riki can make the step up. He's the perfect professional in his preparation, a leader who is thoughtful in analysis of the opposition - often found poring over his laptop and coming up with ideas about where and how to attack - and vocal on the field when tactics have to be changed.
A year ago he and Danny Cipriani were making magic, and their empathy has returned as Danny gets back to full match fitness. Put Danny Care, the form scrum-half, inside them and you get a trio of all-court decision-makers who kick and distribute but who are all prepared to run the ball and thus command the constant attention of opposition back rows and midfields.
When you have three guys who can hurt in centre field it often creates the space wide out for the runners and, although Johnson may not have intended a back three of Paul Sackey, Delon Armitage and Ugo Monye, injuries have dictated that England will be playing a pretty rapid trio, at least against the Pacific Islands.
The sick list also looks likely to provide a further club link between scrum-half and No8, where Nick Easter has been drafted in as cover for Luke Narraway, the Gloucester back-row struggling with a hamstring problem.
Narraway was one of the few to return from New Zealand in the summer with his reputation enhanced, but there has been a temptation to undervalue his understudy. Easter had a good World Cup, where his strength in contact was both a cornerstone for the pack and a target for the backs - much as his Harlequins coach, Dean Richards, used to be. However, the muscle tends to distract from Easter's more skilful side. This season he appears to have slimmed down, making him a bit quicker, but he's still a deft distributor, making those sympathetic little offloads that keep an attack moving and defences on the back foot.
So a line can be drawn through 8, 9, 10 and 12, but there are likely partnerships to be exploited elsewhere. James Haskell, back at blind-side flanker, has a near telepathic understanding with the open-side Tom Rees, and Bath's mobile hooker Lee Mears should figure, at least for the first game, after years throwing in to Steve Borthwick. He might not be in place when scrummaging becomes more of an issue - something I'd like to return to - but it's another platform and one on which Johnson can build.
