I AM writing this column ahead of last night's England game with Turkey, so fingers' crossed England emerged victorious and have moved a significant step closer to qualification for next year's European Championships in Portugal.

However, regardless of last night's outcome, there is no doubt England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has been coming under mounting pressure after a series of disappointing performances since the World Cup.

Whether it is unfair or not, it goes with the job. Like any other manager, he will be judged on whether he gets the right results.

Personally, I would not have played two different teams in the recent friendly with Australia. Rather than experiment with 22 players, I would have experimented with a pattern of play or a formation.

Eriksson has always stuck rigidly to a 4-4-2 formation, which has meant in the wide-left problem position he has always played someone there who is right-sided.

I've always felt the manager of a national team, when he has got supposedly the best players at his disposal, should be able to be flexible in the way that he plays.

I am a believer in playing with a sweeper and three centre-backs and I find it strange England have not tried that formation.

Given the players Eriksson has at the moment, I would have thought that would have been a better formation to play.

Playing with a back four, if the opposition play with just one striker and one playing in a deeper role, then you cannot release one of your two centre-backs to go in and mark the more withdrawn striker because you have no cover.

If you play with three centre-backs, one can go in and do a marking job and that gives you more flexibility both defensively and from an attacking point of view.

As far as England are concerned, you could have Wayne Bridge playing as a left-sided wing-back giving you the width down that flank, enabling Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Steven Gerrard to form what I would think is a very effective midfield three.

Looking back to the World Cup last summer, I always said the heat and the temperature and the fact the tournament was being staged at the end of a very long and competitive season would hinder England's chances of winning.

But there is no doubt the talent is there for England to win the World Cup in 2006. I really think that will provide England's best chance of lifting the trophy.

There has been a lot of talk recently over the future of friendly games and the way that they are used as to whether they are worth anything.

They may give Eriksson a chance to look at one or two individuals but given the fact he watches so many games in a week I would have thought he sees enough of the players to know all about them.

Granted, he may not be watching them at international level when he watches them in the Premiership, but given the influx of foreign players in the domestic game most players are competing against internationals on a weekly basis anyway.

To me, the World Cup is THE tournament to prepare for.

I would therefore use next year's European Championships in Portugal as a staging post, a chance to fine tune the team so it is ready for a strong assault on the World Cup.

There are some very talented players in the Under-21 group coming through and the European Championships could provide a valuable learning experience for the players competing against other European nations.

That would enable England to then use their friendly games to play opposition from elsewhere in the world.

Updated: 09:51 Thursday, April 03, 2003