EUROPEAN FRIENDLY: The English Football Association will in future insist all players named in an England squad report for duty whether their club says they are injured or not. That was Sven-Goran Eriksson's reaction to Tuesday evening, when Manchester United fielded Paul Scholes against Middlesbrough 24 hours after Eriksson had been told the midfielder is unavailable for England's friendly with Portugal on Saturday.
The new hard-line approach - which is actually a reversion to an old England exercise - will come into force before the European Championship qualifier against Slovakia next month.
The England manager was said to have been "frustrated" by Alex Ferguson's selection of Scholes but Eriksson did not speak yesterday and any conflict between England and United will not centre on a dispute between the managers if the Swede can help it. They met after the game but it was claimed yesterday Eriksson did not raise the issue of Scholes's fitness.
A FA spokesperson played down any argument saying it would be "a ding rather than a ding-dong", due to the Swede's passive nature. While Eriksson is unlikely to become embroiled in a slanging match the decision to force players to report regardless of fitness is a sign of Eriksson's discontent.
David Beckham also played against Middlesbrough, limped off near the end and then withdrew with a calf problem, but the FA has not raised any questions about his injury. No replacement was called up to replace the England captain and Liverpool's Michael Owen will again take the armband.
Eriksson and Beckham had a conversation after Tuesday's match and the Swede was satisfied with the player's explanation. In future, though, he will be required to report and be assessed by the medical team which Eriksson has tinkered with, bringing in a Swedish doctor Leif Sward and releasing three established English members of the staff.
The FA's response to Tuesday stems not least from the fact England have taken on board clubs' demands for players to play less games. Two international friendly dates - in November and March - have already been disregarded by the FA to benefit the clubs. Eriksson also wrote to Premiership managers after last summer's World Cup explaining what he expected from England players this season.
Yesterday's absences of Beckham and Scholes were exacerbated by those of Nicky Butt and Steven Gerrard, however, who were caught up in a motorway tailback caused by an accident on the M6 which left four dead.
With Blackburn's David Dunn having already been called up for Keiron Dyer, Eriksson was left with only 15 outfield players and had to postpone the meeting scheduled with the players to discuss the last World Cup campaign.
Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said yesterday he would take his time before deciding how to respond to the misconduct charge levelled by the FA against Patrick Vieira following his sending off against Chelsea on Sunday. Wenger said: "I want to go back and see what really happened there. It was a surprise to the club, and I will make a response when the time is right."
Scotland's Dominic Matteo and Derek McInnes will miss the opening Euro 2004 qualifier in the Faroe Islands. The Leeds defender Matteo picked up an ankle knock against Birmingham at the weekend and West Brom captain McInnes has a knee injury.
Liverpool's Senegalese internationals El Hadji Diouf and Salif Diao failed to report for the national team's training camp for this weekend's African Nations Cup tie with Lesotho. Diouf has fallen out with the Senegalese authorities over French coach Bruno Metsu. The striker wants Metsu to return to the helm after his 10-month stint guiding Emirati club Al-Ain. But the federation say Metsu's departure is permanent.
