Apart from being the first foreigner to be put in charge of England, Sven-Goran Eriksson is refreshingly free of revolutionary football tendencies. He sees English players as a part of the European mainstream and will plan his teams and tactics accordingly.
Yet as the Swede prepares to pick up the baton in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers he will, in spite of himself, be subjecting the national side to the sort of upheaval more normally associated with rebels at the gates.
Should David Seaman's latest back injury prevent the Arsenal goalkeeper's return for Saturday's game against Finland at Anfield there is every possibility that only two of those who started the goalless draw in Helsinki last October, Paul Scholes and Andy Cole, will have survived, although Steve McManaman did come off the bench in that game.
A few more of Eriksson's probables - Gary Neville, David Beckham, Andy Cole and Michael Owen - were in the side beaten 1-0 by Germany at Wembley four days earlier, after which Kevin Keegan resigned, but it is hard to escape the feeling England will experience at the very least a new learning.
It is a process, moreover, which will gather pace should the international career of Steven Gerrard be relaunched in a style befitting the 20-yearold Liverpool midfielder's outstanding potential. Eriksson clearly sees Gerrard much as Bobby Robson used to regard Bryan Robson: a combination of ability, athleticism, ambition and attitude, someone to rally the troops. Less happily, Gerrard is already drawing a comparison with Robson's habit of going lame at crucial moments. Since the youngster made the last of his two appearances, as a substitute against Germany in Charleroi during last summer's European Championship, he has had to withdraw from every England squad because of recurring thigh and groin strains.
Eriksson would like to believe Gerrard can play against both Finland on Saturday and Albania in Tirana four days later but this may be wishful thinking. The side Eriksson fields for his first competitive England match will remain a matter of hypothesis until the team is announced shortly before Saturday's kick-off. The only certainty is that Beckham will captain England a third time, Eriksson having confirmed as much yesterday despite critical reservations about the player's leadership qualities along with his present indifferent form.
"I don't want David Beckham to do anything other than the things he does best," Eriksson declared. "That would be stupid. I want him to lead by example. As a captain he can't be a Tony Adams any more than I, as a coach, can be a Trapattoni. My Finland colleague would be very happy if Beckham sat on the bench on Saturday."
Eriksson denied a report that he had had a secret meeting with Beckham last week. "The last time I saw him was outside the dressing room at Villa Park after the Spain game when I asked him to sign a shirt for my 14-year-old daughter Lina," he explained.
Nice to know the Swedish family Eriksson is putting its shirt on Captain Posh.
Meanwhile, striker Pierre van Hooijdonk has been recalled to the Holland squad for the World Cup group two qualifier against Andorra and Portugal. Inter Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf is a surprise exclusion from the squad of 21 with a lack of regular first-team football at the San Siro costing the former Ajax man his place.
Ryan Giggs should be fit to play for Wales in their World Cup qualifier against Ukraine at the Millennium Stadium on March 28th, coach Mark Hughes said yesterday. However, the Manchester United winger will not travel with the squad for the Group Five game in Armenia on Saturday.
