Daniel Taylor finds the Manchester City goalkeeper hasn't given up on his country after his Viennese debacle

As David James walked off Manchester City's training ground yesterday he threw a ball down and took aim at the dressing-room door from 30 yards. It missed and he tried again, this time from 10 yards. After another botched effort he looked accusingly at the turf.

"Bloody groundsmen," he cursed. "Look at this grass." An hour or so later a freshly showered James was lamenting the fact that finding a scapegoat is not always so easy for a goalkeeper.

"I've been happy with my form. I've been training well, doing all the right things. But the incident in Austria has changed everything in a big way. I'm no longer the number one for England and I have to deal with it myself."

That "incident" was the mistake that deprived England of a victory in the World Cup qualifier in Vienna in September, a grasp of thin air that means James will go into tomorrow's Manchester derby having being deposed from the national team.

Sven-Goran Eriksson will be among the guests at Old Trafford and, having lost his place to Tottenham's Paul Robinson, James has a point to make.

"Prior to that game I thought I was playing well, and since then I've been happy too. So I'm fuming I'm not in. But since then England have won three successive matches and conceded only one goal. I've got good communications with Mr Eriksson; we had a good talk and he told me the way it is.

"People have been asking: 'What are you gonna do?' It's as if being dropped meant I should automatically retire. Well, I'm 34 not 44. And if I'm not going to play, whoever is playing ahead of me is going to have to play very, very well. Honestly, it never crossed my mind to retire. Strewth, it's the best job to have, isn't it?"

Even when the Sun compares you to a donkey? Or the Spanish sports daily As reports that England have a goalkeeper who is a "danger to his own team"? Lesser men would have crumbled but James possibly had his finest match since moving to City in his next game, a 1-0 defeat to Everton, and has been consistently outstanding since.

"In the past I would lose myself within myself. I would ask all these questions of myself and try to work out everything without using any logic. Basically, I would destroy myself. But with experience, and working with a psychologist, you realise there is always another day."

Even a natural optimist such as City boss Kevin Keegan must feel slightly queasy about the number of players missing through injury tomorrow. As James says: "Everything is stacked against us."

Yet there have been signs, too, that after avoiding relegation last season they are heading in the right direction.

Until sieving four goals at Newcastle last month they had a superior defensive record to Manchester United and Arsenal. Keegan has described James as "inspirational".

"As bad as the end of last season was, we had a lot of productive meetings," said James. "Things had to be sorted out, and they were. Now the communication is better, on and off the field. But it shouldn't be a surprise for us to be winning games. The team that Manchester City have is a very talented one. We've got the fan base, the stadium - everything is right bar the league position."

Keegan has certainly worked hard on fostering a spirit of togetherness and as the results have improved the stories of his job being on the line have disappeared. The same applies to the talk of dressing-room cliques, and James is happy to put the record straight.

"Nobody wants the manager to be sacked because if he were sacked that means we are all doing badly. Any individuals who might have ulterior motives are wrong.

"Obviously, in any working environment some people are going to get on better with certain other people. You can't expect everyone to play happy families and hold hands all day long. But, genuinely, there is a good spirit here. There were rumours about the French lads not speaking English - but they do. We moan together and we laugh together."

Thus spake a man who wants to stay positive rather than look back in anguish.

Guardian Service