Johnno has spoken – but what did he say?

Tuesday's announcement that eight players are free to rejoin their clubs has left 24 in the England squad for the first international of the autumn against the Pacific Islands at Twickenham a week on Saturday, but it has given precious little indication of the way England's new manager is thinking.

Perhaps the most significant expulsion is that of Josh Lewsey – a vital part of the England team that under Martin Johnson's captaincy lifted the World Cup in 2003. Lewsey has not been playing well this season – that much has been clear to just about every observer.

In wielding the axe on the Wasps player this early, Johnson has shown that he is a man of little sentiment. I think we knew that already. The same could be said for his rejection of George Chuter, Jordan Crane and Dan Hipkiss – three players from Leicester, his former club.

The expulsion of Hipkiss as well as that of London Irish's Shane Geraghty suggests that Johnson will take a punt on Danny Cipriani at outside half, even though the Wasps star has had precious little game time.

By returning Tim Payne to his club, Johnson is heaping a lot on the broad shoulders of Andrew Sheridan – another who has played little rugby this season.

While those decisions might be regarded as calculated gambles, there are no clear indications of how Johnson wants England to play the game and there are no surprises. Nor were there ever likely to be.

Clive Woodward may have raised eyebrows a decade ago when his first selection as England manager threw up five new caps, but that option is closed to Johnson.

According to protocol, Johnson can only pick from the Elite Playing Squad, nominated in July, when he actually names his side next week. But some of those 32 – including Jonny Wilkinson – have been injured and few of the rest have played consistently well in the first months of the season.

Johnson must hope that media focus on the failings of some of his charges – and the corresponding focus on the abilities of some of their rivals – is exaggerated, while his coaches' insistence that all is well in garden England is spot-on.

The truth is they each have a vested interest. It suits the coaches to believe that their chosen men have been subconsciously taking it easy and that the old maxim of "form is temporary, class is permanent" will hold true. After all, they picked these guys in the first place and to change now would admit that they had got it wrong back in July.

It suits the media to criticise the system and call for change. They know that stories of harmony and serenity and unchanged sides are harder to write and rarely sell newspapers.

But Johnno should also know that the fourth estate are an inventive bunch and, as they did in the later Woodward years when the England side all but picked itself, if they can't find selection issues to get their teeth into, they are quite happy to promote a personality clash with a rival coach such as Australia's Eddie Jones.

The truth was that Woodward understood how the media operated and how to play it, and trusted his players, one of whom was Martin Johnson, to take the more extreme criticism with a pinch of salt.

The important thing was to realise that while the media had a right to comment on a team and its make-up, it was far more important that management and players had utter respect for, and utter faith in, each other.

After a shaky start – England drew two and lost two of his first four internationals, while the Tour to Hell came immediately after his first Five Nations campaign – Woodward kept faith with his players, and his players rewarded that faith by winning the World Cup in 2003.

He was luckier than his successors Andy Robinson and Brian Ashton in that most of his senior players stayed fit most of the time. And he was also lucky in that those players – Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Hill, Jason Leonard, Jonny Wilkinson, etc – were not only natural leaders but also set the highest standards and examples.

After naming Steve Borthwick as captain this week, Johnson needs that sort of luck and he needs the rest of his likely leaders to put their hands up in that sort of way.

And while he can pray that they will stay fit for long enough to grow into their roles, and while he can point out that this squad contains a lot of youngsters, he also knows that the media won't cut him too much slack. He is entitled to demand that, after an unconvincing start to the season for many of his squad, they choose to reward his faith next month.