It has been said of Ian Woosnam's 2006 Ryder Cup team at the K Club, in Ireland, that the players were so good they could have captained themselves. Which just goes to show how clever we all are with the benefit of hindsight.

Whatever way you look at it, Woosie did an excellent job with his pairings for the fourballs and foursomes matches that week. Europe won every session over the first two days and went into the singles needing just four points out of a possible 12 to retain the trophy. In the event, they won eight matches, lost three and halved the other to beat the United States by a record-equalling margin of nine points - the same as that achieved by Bernhard Langer's team at Oakland Hills, Michigan, two years earlier.

Will the pairings fall so naturally into place for Nick Faldo when he sends his team into battle at Valhalla, in Louisville, Kentucky, in eight days' time? He made life a little difficult for himself by selecting a recently out-of-form Ian Poulter ahead of an in-form Darren Clarke - who would provide a ready-made pairing with Lee Westwood - but no doubt already has his plans in place. The question is, how flexible will he be if things start to go awry?

The main talking point is whether Faldo will put his experienced players together or ask them to put an arm around the four rookies. He should have little fear for Justin Rose and Graeme McDowell, but will probably need to be a little more sensitive to the fears and anxieties of Oliver Wilson and Soren Hansen. What he must not do is leave anyone on the sidelines until the Sunday singles matches - a policy that backfired dramatically on Mark James, at Brookline in 1999.

Without Colin Montgomerie in the team, it is time for Padraig Harrington to take a more prominent role. But who to pair him with? The three-time major winner has played most of his Ryder Cup matches with either Montgomerie or Paul McGinley (who also failed to make the team), but no longer has the luxury of familiarity. He is now so good, though, that it should not matter. Which is why McDowell, a fellow Irishman, might get his wish to play alongside him at some point.

Perhaps the most obvious pairing on the first morning will be Westwood with Sergio Garcia. It has been suggested that Paul Azinger, the US captain, will probably send out the Kentucky boys, Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes, as his first pairing as a way of whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Garcia and Westwood, outstanding together in previous Ryder Cups, would be totally unfazed in such a situation and could provide just the start the Europe team will need. Tempting though it might be to split them up, I think Faldo should use them to match fire with fire.

Interestingly, McDowell has admitted that he thinks his captain has a difficult task. "We have been toying with ideas the last few days, trying to match players together," he said on the eve of the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne. "There are not a huge amount of obvious pairings that I can see. Maybe (Henrik) Stenson and (Robert) Karlsson, perhaps. Westwood/Garcia is obvious, but will he split them up? After that it becomes quite difficult. Who would Miguel (Angel Jimenez) play with? It's a tough team to put together."

And that, simply put, is why Faldo is the captain. It is his job to bring it all together. After five victories in the last six Ryder Cups, however, he knows that losing against a very average-looking United States team - one devoid of Tiger Woods - is not an option.

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Each time it comes around, the Ryder Cup proves a busy time for the bookmakers. Europe are still installed as favourites to lift the trophy for the fourth time in succession, but only just.

But if you fancy a flutter on the sillier side of things then Paddy Power are taking bets on such things as the colour of the team shirts to be worn on certain days; how many times Nick Faldo will say “I” in his speech at the opening ceremony; which European will ‘do a Darren Clarke’ and be the first to be seen sinking a pint of beer on tv in celebration of victory (Poulter is favourite at 33-1); and whether Tiger Woods will be spotted watching in the crowd.

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