The indecision is final as James has cross to bear

West Ham keeper's England future still unclear as those maddening moments continue to strike

Decisions, decisions. More than any other footballers, goalkeepers live and die by them; become heroes by making the right ones and attract nicknames like "Calamity" when getting it wrong. How David James must wish his surname was Smith or Brown.

The temptation for the headline writers was there again after West Ham's 4-1 mauling against his previous club Aston Villa last week, but the verdicts in smaller print were damning enough: "error-strewn, 3/10" was one assessment. A week earlier, a visit from Manchester United brought the dramatically contrasting elements of James' game to the fore, as he escaped punishment for three howlers in the first half, then earned a point for his struggling team right at the finish with a superb double save after stopping Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was through on his own.

Among those left shaking their head at the contrast on that occasion was Bob Wilson, who stood between Arsenal's posts for 10 years before moving into television, and remains a goalkeeping consultant to his former club. As David Seaman's mentor, he might be accused of lacking neutrality on the topic of who should be England's No 1 goalkeeper, but he has followed James' career with an expert eye closely enough to be granted a hearing.

"I feel I can be reasonably objective, because when he was 16 or 17 and I was taking the Watford goalies, we used to say 'Christ, this boy's got everything'. As a raw talent, because of his build, his elasticity, his ability to make saves that win games – which is ultimately what you're looking for – you thought, 'He's got to go to the very top of the game'. So I was always massively interested in his career."

Once given a first-team chance at Watford, with England youth caps behind him, James could not be shifted, barely missing a game for two seasons before Liverpool bought him, understandably believing they had secured a long-term contender for the England position. At that time, in 1992, Seaman had only a handful of caps and was behind Chris Woods in the queue; the last count was Seaman 71 international starts, James four.

It hardly helped that some of his worst misjudgements tended to come in the biggest matches. Wilson says, not without sympathy: "Look at his two Cup finals. He played brilliantly against Manchester United, then came for one cross too many that he shouldn't have come for, and Cantona scored. In the Chelsea final [for Aston Villa] he made a bit of a mess and Chelsea scored.

"It's an awful thing, but that's what you have to live with as a goalie – had Charlie George not equalised in the '71 final, I would have looked on it as me costing Arsenal not only the FA Cup but the Double. The fact that you keep them in the game for 89 minutes counts for nothing if you then mess up. It's something that's remained a problem for David."

His biggest handicap, some might feel, is having to play behind a West Ham defence that offers the protection of a grass skirt in a hailstorm. Wilson accepts that, but quotes the Manchester United game at Upton Park as evidence of a more fundamental one: "The problem is his careering off his line, when he shouldn't. It's decision-making, you live or die by it. In the first half, there were two crosses where he came and didn't get there and the guy headed wide, and there was the one where he dribbled out of goal and lost the ball, and Solskjaer put it wide of an empty goal. You have to eliminate bad decisions. Then the converse, in the last minute of the game, a marvellous save. That was a match-saving save. But he got away with murder in the first half.

"At 32, I think he's in his prime time as a goalkeeper. He's still got fantastic reactions and a massive presence. David Seaman will tell you that when you see him in training with England and see his reach and some of the things he does, you think 'wow!' But the ultimate judgement of you as a goalkeeper is your decision-making. And it's really amazing that we're still talking about his decision-making at the age of 32."

And still talking too of whether the Welwyn Garden City boy will make an England goalkeeper. A full cap came at last in 1997, aged almost 27, but becoming an international had entirely the wrong effect: James, on his own admission, had achieved his goal and despite not conceding one against Mexico at Wembley, "didn't know what to do with myself afterwards". Gérard Houllier did after assuming sole control at Anfield, sticking him in Liverpool reserves and playing Brad Friedel instead.

James was tempted by a move to Spain, but opted for Villa Park to improve his chances of another cap, and eventually earned one, three-and-a-half years after the first, then stayed in for the opening half of Sven Goran Eriksson's inaugural match. He has started only one more game in the subsequent two years, effectively seeing off Nigel Martyn, yet unable to displace Seaman. Bleached suedehead, blond braids or yellow curls, he remains only the hair-apparent to the pony-tailed one, uncomfortably aware that Paul Robinson is now receiving regular first-team experience with Leeds and that the even younger Chris Kirkland is due some for Liverpool.

England's next international, like Eriksson's first at Villa Park, will be on James' home ground. Though the keeper will be on trial at Upton Park again tomorrow against Southampton, the patrons are still inclined to blame the defence rather than James for West Ham's goals-against total, and they will want him between the sticks for England against Australia. With Seaman now 39 and hardly immune from error, Eriksson and his goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence have some games to watch and some thinking to do before then. Decisions, decisions.