Sven's question time

With all the withdrawals from this squad, are you concerned that injuries could hamper our chances at EURO 2004?

In one way it’s true but on the other hand if you take players like Gary Neville, Sol Campbell - Woodgate I’m not sure - Terry, Steven Gerrard, they would all be in a squad for the Championship if we were to announce it now.

My conviction is that I shouldn’t use players like Campbell, Terry and Neville in a friendly game when they have played three games last week.

Why should I make the situation worse for them? It’s not perfect for England but it’s better like that.

Do you think it’s harder trying to win something with England?

Let’s hope we have a winter break!

I always said that the Premier League season is very tough. There are many games, they are all difficult and the pace is very fast.

France did not do so well at the last World Cup and if you talk to the manager and the coaches they say that one reason is that they had too many Premier League players.

Would get-togethers not be better than friendly games then?

For me friendly games are not a waste of time. I have the chance to see players play. Sometimes maybe it’s not perfect but on the whole I’m very happy with them.

Would you like to see David Beckham play in the centre of midfield?

I don’t need to see him in the centre of midfield because I see him doing that every weekend [for Madrid].

I am sure it would not be a problem if we chose to play him there.

The last time you met Scolari, he knocked you out of the World Cup. Would you do anything different if you played that match again?

If I could replay that game, which I never can, when we had a 1-0 lead with five or ten minutes of the first half left, I would play less forward and try to go into half-time with the lead. I told the players that, but it was too late.

Owen and Beckham weren’t fully fit for that game, are they too indispensable not to pick?

It’s a good question. Michael Owen was not super-fit, Beckham was not super-fit, Gerrard was not even there.

But if you have Beckham and Owen, it’s very difficult to not pick them. It’s not a secret that they are very important to us.

Owen is our best goalscorer and the importance of Beckham on the pitch is huge. If I played the game again I would pick both of them again.