DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, 'COS I DON'T

GERRARD ADMITS HE WAS TOTALLY LOST IN SVEN'S MIDFIELD MINEFIELD By John Cross STEVEN GERRARD admits he got lost in England's new-look midfield after being asked to play in THREE different positions against Wales.

England boss Sven Goran Eriksson ditched his favoured 4-4-2 formation after a heart-to-heart with his midfielders Gerrard, Frank Lampard and David Beckham led to a change of tactics. But while England captain Beckham thrived as the 'quarterback' in the new formation, it was Gerrard and Lampard who both had uncharacteristically quiet games in the World Cup qualifier.

Gerrard admitted there were some "dangerous" moments in the closing stages when England lost their shape as Eriksson made several baffling substitutions.

Liverpool captain Gerrard insists England can make the system work in the future - but admits that it will need some practice if they want to use it against stronger opponents. Gerrard said: "I was asked to play in three different positions. It takes time in a match to get used to the one position.

"I think the game was won when there were a few changes late on, although at this level it can always be dangerous when you've only got a 1-0 lead and we invited the Welsh towards us a bit."

Gerrard ended up being substituted by Kieran Richardson late in the second half, while Lampard was below-par.

Eriksson will decide in the next 24 hours whether the return from suspension of Michael Owen against Northern Ireland means abandoning the five-man midfield experiment and returning to 4-4-2 on Wednesday.

Beckham is in favour of retaining his new position, and Joe Cole insists he will have recovered from a calf injury.

However, Wayne Rooney might be asked to play on the left but with orders to come inside to offer Owen support, or Shaun Wright-Phillips may find himself back on the bench.

Ditching the new formation would mean a missed opportunity and Lampard said: "The system is slightly different to what we use at Chelsea. But we're used to it, the lads are intelligent and it went pretty well. We can get better as we get more used to it.

"Becks brings good pbutting to that role. He's not going to be a Makelele or a figure who sits and breaks things up and plays it more simple.

"Becks has a great range of pbutting - he wanted to get on the ball, start a lot of attacks and he did that.

"It's up to the manager whether Michael and Wayne can play together in the system, but Wayne can play in a variety of positions, which he does for Manchester United.

"Wayne is a very complete player. It's always good to have versatile players. I think he did well."