3 September 2005
Press Conference: Sven-Goran Eriksson

Sven talks to the press on the day England meet up for their two final Group Six World Cup Qualifiers.


On Tuesday Sven-Goran Eriksson spoke in a press briefing ahead of England's game against Austria at Old Trafford. TheFA.com brings you the full transcription of what he had to say...

Cole Injury
Unfortunately, Ashley Cole is out. It's a stress fracture in his foot. He'll be out for at least one month. That happened a few days a go. He had a scan when he joined us and that showed up. We are sorry about that. Stephen Warnock has been called up and he will arrive this evening.

I think he (Cole) is the best left back in the world.. Now we have two full-backs out and that's a pity.

Kieran Richardson
He is one of the options we have. We also have others. Phil Neville and Jamie Carragher could do it. He did it for a long time with Liverpool some time ago, and there's Warnock coming in as well, so we have options.

Defenders
We have three central defenders to choose from, and that's a big decision I have to make. I have seen Rio Ferdinand many times this season and I've seen Sol Campbell and John Terry as well- all three are playing well. I know Rio was criticised for the two goals Manchester United conceded against Fulham and I've seen the goals on television and Tord (Grip) was there to see it. It will be difficult to leave out any of them. One of them will be disappointed but I am here to do that job.

Last Game
When you win, the merit goes to the players and then the coaching staff and the manager. When you lose it's the same. I take the results seriously, as I always do when we lose.

Importance of the games
They are huge games; extremely important games. We are playing for a ticket to the World Cup. We know that we could end up in the play-offs as the situation is now, but we don't want to do that. We want to try and win the group. For that reason these two games are very important and we have to try and play better football to win two football games. I am very positive that we can do that.

Biggest of your career?
I don't know. Every game is important. I've played some European finals with teams I had, that were very important. For England not to reach the World Cup that would a disaster. But England shall be in the World Cup. I would never talk about 'if' I would consider my position – it's very negative. Ask me the same question after the two games but I don't think you will ask me that question after the two games.

Rio Ferdinand
We, as a team, have not performed at a level we should do. With or without Rio. I don't think you can say it was one players fault. I think he performed well for England when they performed well. It was last season. We cannot say we have played well this season against Denmark, Wales and Northern Ireland.

If I pick him or not, I will leave that until Saturday. It is not something I can share with you today.

Striking Options
I don't want to answer the question of who I'm going to play upfront. Michael Owen will hopefully be one of them. It depends. He will do some running tomorrow and he will train on Thursday. I hope he will be fit.

Is your reputation on the line more than its ever been?
Maybe. But your reputation as a manager is always in danger. Every game you play. If your are at a club or a country. We have two very important matches to play on Saturday and then on Wednesday. The prize is a place in the World Cup and that's not a little thing – it's very important.

Nobody has been happy with the last few games we have played. I have not been happy. We have to play better football. If we don't we will risk not winning the games so that's a big reason why we have to play better. We will play better.

It's a shame if you're a fan, a player or a coach. You are disappointed that we couldn't play better than we did. I didn't expect the players to play poorly.

David Beckham – will he be fully focused?
I haven't spoken to him about it but I think he will okay and hopefully he won't have any worries about what is happening in Spain. He will be back tomorrow and back on the pitch on Thursday.

Is Right-wing his best position
Maybe right-wing is his best position. It is clear in my mind what kind of line-up I will have on Saturday if nothing happens before then. It will probably be 442.

Cameras filming press conferences
I think there is a good reason for it. I can't see it will harm anyone. I hope it will never be used. I think that many times the words that are said in here are not coming out the same way in the papers. I can have as many examples as you want.

Lampard and Gerrard
They have played together many times. They did it in the European Championships in Portugal. They did it well.

Negative words between players
When they come to England they put aside what is happening in their clubs, so I am not worried about that.

Looking forward
Its been a very long time, even if its only three-and-a-half weeks since we played the last game. Of course I am looking forward to it. I told the players today that as a player the time goes much more quickly because they have other things to think about other than Northern Ireland. Its been a long time. With the job I have, there are no games in between so it has been a very long time. I am really looking forward to Saturday.

I have seen the video of the game against Northern Ireland many times, unfortunately. I have seen it on two camera angles and it doesn't get better.

Normally we have intense training session. They are always practicing very well. We need to look forward and be positive, not look backwards and be negative. We know can play much, much better football.

I, as a manager, should forget that game (against Northern Ireland) and talk about the future. It was bad, it was sad and that's it.

Are you still enjoying it?
I enjoy it very much. Of course you enjoy it less when you lose against Northern Ireland, but that's the job. I'm proud to be manager of England as I always have and I hope to be happy on Saturday evening and even happier on Wednesday night.