Sven: Midfield must do better
Sven-Goran Eriksson has vowed to find a solution to England’s midfield muddle in time for next month’s crucial World Cup qualifiers against Austria and Poland.
The Swede tinkered with his midfield for the qualifiers against Wales and Northern Ireland, using David Beckham in a deep-lying role rather than in his traditional position on the right of a midfield four.
While Beckham was able to show off his range of passing, he seemed too withdrawn to find the killer ball. Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard also looked no nearer to forming a coherent central midfield partnership despite their obvious individual ability.
Eriksson accepts he must get the best out of all three of his world-class midfielders if England are to live up to their billing as World Cup contenders.
“One of the problems of course is that I have to get Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard to work better together,” he told BBC Radio Five Live.
“They are three of the best footballers in the world and they are the spine of our team, and they have to do it better.”
Lampard and Gerrard looked particularly out of sorts as England slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland on Wednesday.
Eriksson himself has expressed worries over Lampard’s current form, but insisted he was “too important” to the team to leave out.
“No-one is guaranteed to be in the team, why should they be? To be in the team you have to play good football.
“Frank is important for us. He is not in the best form, he hasn’t shown that this season but anyhow he is an important player. He can score goals.”
The system employed in Cardiff and Belfast appeared to suit Beckham but not the rest of the team.
Eriksson was asked if he would ever drop the Real Madrid star and told BBC1’s Football Focus programme: “If he plays like he is now, no. If he is not playing good football for a while I will drop him.”
The midfield was reshuffled in the wake of the 4-1 friendly defeat to Denmark, where Eriksson felt England were hopelessly outgunned in the second half.
“After the Denmark match and looking at that game many times on the tape, I had to do something to cover the midfield better because we were outplayed in that position,” he said.
“We tried (a new formation) and it worked in the first half against Northern Ireland. You are sitting on the bench and you have the feeling that sooner or later you will score.
“We had all the possession of the ball, they were not even close to our goal in the first half.”
