The new manager of England, Sven-Goran Eriksson, held his first eve-of-game press conference at a golf club yesterday. Somehow it felt appropriate. Eriksson, a football club manager of two decades' experience, is doing this job for the first time. He has discovered quickly that in international management a handicap system applies.
Naming 31 players initially in his squad for the friendly with Spain tonight, Eriksson was trying to carry shots at as many holes as possible. But that number had been reduced to 26 by Monday morning and yesterday's news was that another had gone. Joe Cole has an ankle injury, though his West Ham manager Harry Redknapp said last night that Cole had not returned to Upton Patk as had been intimated by Eriksson. There is a doubt about one more, Paul Scholes.
Then there is the dismal midlands weather, Aston Villa's more mud than grass pitch and the likelihood of numerous substitutions. In terms of England's World Cup qualifier against Finland at Anfield at the end of March it is like preparing for Augusta by putting on winter greens with a four iron. It's the same sport, but it's not the same game.
Ominously good for England, therefore, were Eriksson's last words at The Belfry yesterday afternoon. "Don't just think about tomorrow," he said, "you might win tomorrow but lose in March." Given previous England managers' preoccupation with winning friendlies - it was the best thing about Graham Taylor's reign - it was a welcome dose of long-termism in a quick-fix business."
It has been a notable feature of Eriksson's brief period in England that he has stuck to the fairways and while this may not provide the most extravagant entertainment of the Glenn Hoddle psychobabble or Kevin Keegan cheerleading variety, there is a comfortable maturity to Eriksson that is easy to admire.
But there are reservations, and all will change of course, as soon as England lose a significant fixture - earlier if they lose credibility as well as a friendly before then - and for all the talk of the generation of young England players coming through there is a difference between promise and delivery, a big difference.
That is why the first Eriksson England team should have a familiar look to it. Eriksson said yesterday that while he had a formation in mind he will wait until this morning before deciding finally, but there are a few selections that seem predictable. In goal, David Seaman, 37, is set to play at least a half, with David James, 30, possibly having the other. Up front, Teddy Sheringham, 34, is likely to partner his Manchester United colleague Andy Cole, 29. It is worth remembering Eriksson had Sinisa Mihailovic in his Lazio side. Age is not an Eriksson concern.
Judging by his homage to Scholes, though, attitude is. While other squad players with knocks withdrew, Eriksson said that Scholes travelled to the midlands to join up with the squad late on Monday night despite some gastroenteritis. "I'm extremely happy that he came," said Eriksson. "He wanted to come. I should like to have 25 players like that - always. Very professional. I like that."
Scholes's participation tonight is dependent on a morning workout but his future involvement is guaranteed. Eriksson is no different from Keegan in that respect.
Considering the derision Keegan received at Euro 2000 for his tactics - correctly - another similarity Eriksson possesses with his predecessor is an apparent distrust of the 3-5-2 formation. "In one way or another it will be 4-4-2," Eriksson said of his team line-up this evening, meaning that two of the three left-footed defenders - Everton's Michael Ball, Charlton's Chris Powell or Arsenal's Ashley Cole - should start to give the team natural balance. Otherwise Eriksson is in the Keeganesque position of employing distinctly right-footed players on the left.
Yet it appears that Liverpool's Nicky Barmby may be asked to put in a shift down the left, completing a midfield quartet of David Beckham, Frank Lampard, and Scholes or Nicky Butt.
Gaizka Mendieta will hardly be quaking and Eriksson was not joking when he replied to a question about what he hoped to take out of tonight by saying: "It would be very, very good if I come out with precise ideas about the 11 to play Finland. But I doubt if that will happen. I've been here since the middle of January, travelling, just looking. Now I'm trying to absorb as much as possible.
Two certainties Eriksson is already familiar with are the size of the job - "much bigger in all ways" than anything he has done before - and the elaborate public profile of Beckham. Eriksson has retained Beckham as his captain, Peter Taylor having given Beckham the role against Italy, with Eriksson explaining: "I can't see any reason why after one day I should change it. I never thought about changing after 24 hours. I'm not trying to make a revolution.
"I don't think it should be heavy work to be the captain of England. It should make you very proud and even more concentrated on the game. It should lift you, not be a burden."
Other than that Eriksson was reticent, to the extent someone asked him for a few crumbs of information. "I don't understand," he said, "crumbs?" The word was explained to him, but not in all of its dimensions. But when it is, and when the time comes, Sven-Goran Eriksson will not be the first England manager to say "Oh" first.
