There were suggestions that England could switch to a diamond formation in midfield to face the Swiss, with Steven Gerrard moved to the left as he was against Japan recently.

But after discussions between the coaching staff and the players it was agreed to stick with the same formation that looked so impressive against both France and Iceland.

Beckham said: "The diamond formation was mentioned before the game, but we all decided and the manager decided that 4-4-2 was the best thing. That's the most important thing. He sat all the midfielders down and asked us 'what do you feel best doing?'

"He said 'obviously I'm the manager and I will make the final decision at the end of the day, but I will listen to you as well.' We all sat down and said we felt more comfortable with 4-4-2 and I think now we'll stick with that during the tournament.

"When you play a system you get used to it and that's what happened against Switzerland. We played some good football in that system and why change it? We need to carry it on. There could be another game when we need to play the diamond, but we'll see."

Beckham admits England were not at their absolute best against Switzerland, with the sending-off of Bernt Haas a key moment in the game.

But Wayne Rooney's superb double and a classy goal from Steven Gerrard has put a smile on the face of every England player and fan.

Beckham said: "I think we can take a lot from the game. It was always going to be tough and it was hot out there. We were a bit nervous and anxious to start with but once we got the ball down and spread the play we were OK.

"We have a young team and they matured tonight and that got us through. Now we have points on the board and we have a win behind us, it will settle us down a lot. But we still have to go out and win against Croatia."

Beckham also joined in the congratulations for Wayne Rooney, who won the man of the match award after becoming the youngest ever goalscorer in the European Championships.

He said: "Wayne is the youngest ever score in the championship and he deserves it. He worked hard tonight and played welll and showed great strength. He showed he's a real player.

"He got booked early on and this is what I mean by saying he's matured. When you're young and that happens you can have go out of the game or fight back. And he fought back. He showed his frusrtations by scoring goals - he was fantastic."

18 June 2004
David Beckham post-match - AUDIO