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Beckham backs Eriksson as knives point at England
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-09-09 09:50

LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - England captain David Beckham says he still has every confidence in coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and his squad after their shock defeat by Northern Ireland.

Eriksson is in the eye of a media storm caused not only by Wednesday's 1-0 loss in a World Cup qualifier, but also Saturday's 1-0 laboured win over Wales and last month's 4-1 dismal friendly defeat in Denmark.

Backing his embattled manager, Beckham told reporters: "It's worrying that we lost, but I've got full confidence in the team, the squad and the manager.

"But we are just not performing to our best abilities at the moment as a team. That's it. Simple.

"If we want to get through to the World Cup and expect to beat teams like Brazil and Argentina we need to play a lot better. With the players we've got, we should do that and we've got to do that."

England get a chance to make amends next month in their two remaining qualifiers against Austria and Group Six leaders Poland, but need all six points to qualify automatically as group winners.

Beckham also deflected criticism of Eriksson for having changed England's usual 4-4-2 line-up for a 4-5-1 at the Millennium Stadium and a 4-3-3 at Windsor Park.

"Obviously there has been a lot made of systems before the Cardiff game and this week," said the skipper.
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