Brown: 'Confidence is key'

Wes Brown believes that his club and national managers, Sir Alex Ferguson and Fabio Capello, share a similar ability to get their players playing with confidence. He believes that will continue for England against Kazakhstan at the weekend.

Brown has played his entire career under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, and he believes that his club boss is a similar breed to the England Manager Fabio Capello.

Speaking exclusively to TheFA.com, Brown said: "There are similarities obviously. They both know what they are doing and they relate that to the players very clearly.

"They are very in control of themselves and they know what they want from their teams. They tell the players exactly what they want and from that the players get confidence. With confidence you can go into big games and play very well.

"You can ask any player. If you go into a game confident, that's always a good start."

Brown comes into the England squad this week having scored for his club on Saturday, after breaking his duck for England against Czech Republic in the August friendly. But the United defender can't explain why he has been featuring on the scoresheet.

"It's just a bit of luck, I think," Brown reflects. "Obviously I've not scored too many goals in my career and it's good to have a few in the last few months. It's nice to get on the scoresheet and help out."

His first goal for England was an especially important moment for Brown: "It was really big for me. It's great to play for your country and I'm glad to be in the squad again, and to score a goal it felt unbelievable.

"I'm just glad that I can help towards what we're hoping is going to be a great couple of games for England."

Looking back on last season, it could hardly have gone any better for Brown. He established himself in the United defence and played more games than anyone else at Old Trafford on the road to the European Cup and Premier League Double.

"For me it was great. Obviously it was disappointing that Gary Neville got injured, which mean't I got the place at right-back. But it was a great season, the team the whole way through the season was flowing and we always thought we were in contention to win trophies.

"In the last two months it went very well for us, we got the luck at times and we ended with the Double so it was a great feeling to be involved in what was a great achievement."

Despite playing the majority of last term at right-back, Brown feels that he still has the flexibility to play in the centre if the situation dictates.

When asked if he had settled on the right-back slot for good, Brown responded: "I wouldn't have thought so. Obviously with Gary Neville being out I was the main contender for that position. Now Gary's back, the gaffer can easily change it. If Vida [Nemanja Vidic] or Rio are out, then he can put me at centre-back.

"Against Barcelona [Champions League Semi-Final] it was a really tight game and the gaffer put me there hoping I could use a bit of my experience. It turned out well and we got the result we needed."

Another great performance in Brown's memory is England's 4-1 victory in Zagreb, and he believes that a relaxed and assured state of mind was a key factor behind the triumph.

"It was a great team performance. I thought that the whole week leading up to it all the lads were all getting on well and we all played as a team.

"Theo played unbelievably well for such a young lad. I'm sure he's got even better things to come for England and I'm just really glad that he did really well in that game and he can move on from there and get even better.

"The team was very relaxed and wanted to play. We got the ball down and we were comfortable. We knew what we were doing from training and in general it came off. Everyone was confident and the things we tried worked, so hopefully we can carry them forward into these games."

Brown wants to see that victory carry England forward against Kazakhstan and get the fans behind the team for their first home World Cup qualifier.

"The last few games the fans have been up and down a little bit, and our performances maybe haven't been up to standard. But, hopefully, coming from the Croatia game we can take that into a match at Wembley and show them what we can do there. We know we can do it and as long as we've got the confidence to do it I'm sure we will.

"It's a World Cup qualifier and we need to perform. If you don't perform in these games it's easy to not get the result you want. We're taking into account how well we played in the last game and I'm sure the confidence will fly straight through into this one.

"They may play in a similar way to Andorra, so we have to play very well. We have to be patient and when our opportunities come along we have to take them. As long as we play as we know we can, I'm sure we can get the result we need."

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