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Sven needs to dabble in England's sub-culture

England's second string will never perform like first-clbutt players if they're only given a few minutes here and there, argues Georgina Turner

Thursday August 18, 2005

Sven-Goran Eriksson "But I like Owen Hargreaves!" Photograph: Gareth Copley-PA.

So. England are going to win the World Cup and Sven-Goran Eriksson is worth £5m a year. Right. Have you seen my palace in Sheba?

Sven, his captain David Beckham and the FA have already whipped out a broom and are diligently sweeping last night's embarrbuttment in Copenhagen under a shagpile in Soho Square, but whether Denmark's 4-1 victory was 'only a friendly', or whether seven minutes of madness really means England aren't that good after all, matters not. What matters is that Eriksson starts to look at that shambolic second half as a lesson, and not just a PR exercise.

Article continues And whether he manages that depends on whether he actually knows what he's doing. When you look at how he uses some of the players at his disposal, you have to wonder. Sven knows who his best team is, so it's what he does with his fringe players that should be a cause for concern.

After all, anybody that watched Beckham haul his weary carcbutt around various pitches in Japan three years ago will agree that Sven's second string will be vital to England's World Cup chances should any key players be injured and should England qualify in the first place, let's take nothing for granted here. But last night's game showed perfectly how incapable they are of truly replacing any of England's first XI.

That's not to lay the blame entirely at their door. We could argue long and hard over whether Glen Johnson is in fact international clbutt distinctly questionable, whether Owen Hargreaves will ever be more than a headless chicken remote chance, and whether David James should ever, ever be allowed to call himself an England player again for the sake of cholesterol-ridden supporters everywhere, please, no.

But the point is that Eriksson hasn't given most of them time to garner the experience they need to make the effortless jump into the first team. Admittedly, that argument doesn't apply to James who, despite having previously held the No1 shirt, still looks like he's been bunged into a washing machine on a hot cycle before trotting out onto the pitch. But how can the likes of Jermaine Jenas be expected to provide decent back-up without the benefit of a decent run around?

With 12 caps and never a taste of competitive football for his country, (Jenas, 86) has barely had a meaningful instant in an England shirt. Owen Hargreaves has played an average of 32 minutes in the competitive matches he's been involved in. And in the last three years, Kieron Dyer has been included in nine England squads for competitive matches - but only once played more than 18 minutes and three times spent four minutes or less on the pitch. No wonder, then, that Eriksson has got through 67 different players in the 25 friendlies he has presided over.

The Swede's failure to recognise that England will lack strength in depth for as long as he fails to use his numerous substitutes properly was never more evident than last night. With Andy Johnson's ridiculous jaunt on the right wing, and Stewart Downing's pointless half hour in a drab friendly against Holland still fresh in the memory, Sven opted to replace Jermain Defoe with Michael Owen at half-time - despite the fact that it's Defoe who will face Wales in the World Cup qualifier next month with Owen suspended.

Defoe himself commented after the match that he had not had an opportunity to develop an understanding with Wayne Rooney, and quite how Eriksson expects that to blossom over the coming weeks, with Rooney in Manchester and Defoe in London, remains a mystery. The point of Owen's second half appearance, other than being a rare treat for the man who remains fifth in line for a starting position at Real Madrid, is also something we'll probably never persuade the England manager to let us in on.

Not all of the players who have been given a minute here and there deserve any more, but for those like Jenas, whose potential brought them into Eriksson's plans years back, the problem is that their cameos leave their international potential as just that. They are given barely a moment to find their feet, to acclimatise to more fearsome opposition or the way their team-mates play, let alone make an impression. The rest of the time they are thrown on at half-time with all the other part-timers - hardly great preparation should they be called upon in Germany.

Eriksson's approach to his squad players is haphazard at best and seriously undermines the nation's chances at worst. Like a small child he will patiently attempt to shove square objects into round holes and look around in wonderment when they fail to fit. He gives them token run-outs and on this basis hopes that if injuries or a lack of fitness leave any of his starting XI unable to appear next year, his fringe players will step up and bear England's hopes upon their scrawny shoulders. He is taking armfuls of promising shoots and turning them into stockpiles of dead wood."