Under-fire England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has insisted he still has the support of the players despite the suggestion of rifts within the England squad.
Eriksson changed his formation for the embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Northern Ireland earlier this month, with captain David Beckham accommodated in a deep central role.
While the lone-striker tactics proved unsuccessful, Eriksson insists Beckham — or any other player — does not affect his selection.
”I have lost the players? There is no chance,” Eriksson said. ”Of course, if you lose to Northern Ireland and play as badly as we did, everything is wrong — the players and the tactics.
”To say that because of those 90 minutes I have lost the power in the dressing room, [that] the feeling between me and the players is lost, there is no chance.”
Eriksson admits Beckham’s role as skipper leads to more conversations between the pair, but insists the Real Madrid midfielder has no bearing on his decisions.
”He is handled in the same way as all the other players,” Eriksson told the Evening Standard. ”The only difference is that I talk more to him than others because he’s the captain.
”No player, captain or otherwise, has influence on which team or squad I pick or what tactics I use. That is between me and my coaching staff.”
Eriksson is now set to revert to playing two strikers in attack, although he still has faith in playing a lone striker.
”If you play a diamond, the wide midfielders have to cover a lot of ground,” he added. ”That was one of the reasons we tried that — but it did not work out.
”Whatever the tactical system, with the players we have we should have played much better than we did.”
He added: ”We played 4-5-1 in Belfast partly because some of the players were not 100%. It’s all history now. What I do know is that some of those players, three weeks later, are now playing much better for their clubs.
”I’ve not abandoned the single striker. We can play that way. I thought it was necessary against Ireland. But I prefer 4-4-2 and so do the players. I’ve played that way with every team I’ve coached.” — Sapa-AFP