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- The Observer, Sunday 1 September 2002
Leeds United can expect to have three or four players in the England squad that Sven-Göran Eriksson names tomorrow ahead of Saturday's friendly against Portugal, but it is not certain that Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate will be among them.
Alan Smith, after an excellent under-21 championship, and Paul Robinson, who has ousted Nigel Martyn as Leeds' regular goalkeeper, are almost definite selections. Woodgate, too, has a good chance of coming back to a defence still missing Gary Neville and Wes Brown through injury, though Bowyer may have to wait a little longer. Blackburn's David Dunn is thought to be the attacking midfielder Eriksson most wants to have a look at, but the picture may change if any more regulars drop out through injury. Paul Scholes is out and Nicky Butt is already rated doubtful, and the England manager is certainly not averse to calling up Bowyer.
'I am a free man again myself,' Eriksson joked. 'Now I can pick whoever I want.' Even Chelsea's John Terry is available for selection again, though he has not been playing for his club regularly enough to be considered this time. Bowyer has not only been playing for Leeds, he has been performing well enough to make an impression.
'I have already seen him this season,' Eriksson said, dismissing speculation that the player's soured transfer to Liverpool had raised fresh question marks over his character. 'It would be very bad of me to judge a player without knowing him, and without having him in one of my squads. Just because you have done something stupid in your life it doesn't mean you will carry on doing stupid things.'
There is surely room for debate on that noble but possibly misguided sentiment - Smith's volatile temperament immediately springs to mind - though Eriksson is attempting to make a fresh start after the World Cup just as Leeds are under Terry Venables, so perhaps everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.
'I like the fact Smith has temperament,' Eriksson says. 'You can see he lives for football, he's a winner and he hates to lose, and that's good. He's a very good player who can play up front or in midfield, and he can even play outside-left.'
Some things don't change then. England will always be looking for a good outside-left, and though Nick Barmby does not really count as one, his return to form and favour at Leeds gives Eriksson another option. Barmby appeared with some success in that position in England's qualifying games for the last World Cup.
How long ago that seems now. It is a year since England were beating Germany 5-1, yet summer's events in Japan already seem distant memories. Possibly that is because England's participation ended on such a muted note. There was certainly little to savour in a shotless second half against the 10 men of Brazil.
'It was a disappointing way to go out,' Eriksson says. 'After 40 minutes I thought we had a good chance, but once they scored either side of the interval we were too tired to do anything about it. We never managed a second-half goal in the whole tournament and what went wrong against Brazil also went wrong in the later part of the games against Sweden and Argentina.'
Eriksson has obviously given thought to what went so wrong, and is of the opinion that England's lack of energy was the major factor. Perhaps he would say that, rather than criticise his own tactics or team selection, though he has the stats to back it up.
'We were measuring the players all the time,' he says. 'We did blood tests and fitness tests on everyone and each month, from March to April to May, you could see a deterioration. On top of that we had players like David Beckham trying to come back from injury too quickly, so it was never ideal. I know people said we lacked passion in the second half against Brazil, but I would not use the word passion. I would simply say we were exhausted.'
If this sounds like another plea for a winter break it probably is, though Eriksson knows he has already lost that argument with the clubs. As a result he will not be treating their players quite so delicately, and Portugal at Villa Park should be more like a real game than previous friendlies where the cast has completely changed at half-time.
'We will not be doing that this time, that was part of the old agreement with clubs,' he explains. 'I can't make any decisions about winter breaks or shorter seasons, but I am the boss, I have to have an opinion and let people know it. I can't see why the clubs are so set against the idea. A winter break is in their interests as well if they don't want tired players in the important games at the end of the season.'
Eriksson refutes Sir Alex Ferguson's suggestion that Beckham would have been better off staying with his club than travelling to Dubai for England's pre-World Cup get-together. 'He is entitled to that opinion but we have quality people in the England set-up who took good care of Beckham,' Eriksson says. 'He got exactly the same treatment with us that he had been getting in Manchester, and as captain his place was with the England team.'
Beckham's fragility cost England dear when Brazil equalised in Shizuoka, though another factor was the naivety with which Eriksson's players threw themselves forward in attack when they should have been trying to protect their lead until the interval. The Swede accepts this criticism and, without actually saying as much, hints that England's biggest mistake might have been scoring too early.
'About 10 minutes before half-time I was discussing with Steve McClaren whether to tell our four defenders to all stay back,' he admits. 'I'm not sure it would have been right, it would have been poor football and I don't think we could have played like that for 55 minutes, but it might have stopped Brazil getting a goal before half-time. Of course it was disappointing not to be able to score when Brazil went down to 10 men, but I don't think we need to change the tactics. When we are not tired we can play good football.'
True, but when are the summers when England are not tired? Are younger players the answer? 'We are already a young squad,' Eriksson says. 'I won't change for the sake of changing. It is up to those not in the World Cup squad to show they are better than those who were in it. On paper this team should be better in 2004 and better still in 2006 but football is not a branch of mathematics. You never know.'
