Injuries hurt Keegan's England hopes

The England team met yesterday at Burnham in readiness for this weeks friendly match against France. Coach Kevin Keegan spoke to the England press pack, first of all regarding injuries. Rio Ferdinand, Emile Heskey and Stephen Gerrard are all injured but Gerrard especially is suffering from a spate of recurrent injuries.

Kevin Keegan "There's bound to be a doubt until such time as he plays regularly for Liverpool Football Club, because the downside of having niggly injuries like he keeps getting is that you don't train a lot of the days.

You know, it gets interrupted. So when you do come into the side, after 60 or 70 minutes of a tough Premiership game -- and they are tough games and they are played at a pace which we talked about in the press conference last week -- mentally as well as physically it's difficult to convince yourself that you're there.

But I don't want to get too alarmist about it, because I think Liverpool really have to answer the questions. All I am saying is he's not fit, certainly not fit to play against France on Saturday, and therefore I've sent him back.

"I think it would be fair to say had he been fit and trained this week I would have played him on Saturday, because like I told you, I would have played him against Romania. So he just offers something a bit different to most other players, not least the fact that he's unknown, he's an unknown quantity at this level, which we would only find out.

We saw that half an hour against Germany, which was very, very impressive, and we saw the game at Wembley before we went out there, which I thought he did very, very well on. Now, it's how does he build on that, and it's disappointing he hasn't got the chance to show us in what would be a fantastic arena, you know."

The good news is that Michael Owen is fit and looking sharp again.

Kevin Keegan "I think Euro 2000 and just before Euro 2000 when he got his goal against Brazil I think that helped Michael Owen a lot. He needed that at the end of that season with the little problems and niggles he's had, and Steve Gerrard can look at that and say crikey, this time last year Michael was the one who was in this situation, and he's come through, he's started this season very well, and I know from his reaction, having scored against Brazil, he said, "I needed that"."

Leeds player Alan Smith has been called up to the squad for the first time.

"To be honest with you, I just think again as a forward he's very, very exciting, in a different way to Michael Owen, and he plays in a team where he just causes problems. I watched him on Saturday and you wouldn't say his performance was outstanding, but every time the ball came in his area he either got hold of it and played people in, or he made sure that the defender didn't have much time to settle, and he's a very important player in the way Leeds play."

Keegan has also considered calling up Celtic striker Chris Sutton despite a torrid season, last year, with Chelsea.

Kevin Keegan "To be honest with you, probably after tomorrow he will be one of the players that I'll be looking at. But I'm not going to do that yet because I really do believe that the four forwards I've got will all stay fit, you know."

This is the first time that the England team have met since Euro 2000. A competition in which the team experienced heavy criticism both during and after the tournament.

Kevin Keegan "We had a little talk which remains private, but basically nothing new, in terms of that I looked at the 20 players -- I had 22 there, because the injured players still came down there before they went, and I just honestly looked at them and I said, "Look, guys, for me and you know if I've got it wrong well everyone knows that's my problem, but for me you're the best 22 players in this country".

"Everyone has had their say, you've all had your say, I look at them and I honestly hand on heart can say they are the best players available to me. There are one or two who are injured who I cannot pick. That will happen, but they are the best players and now we need to show that we are the best players, and that is the challenge." What would constitute a good way forward for the England team as regards the friendly match against France?

Kevin Keegan "A good performance and a result would be fantastic, but a good performance against the best team in the world at the moment. If you don't pass the football better than we did in Euro 2000 like I said to you before we'll spend a lot of time chasing it against the French, because they do pass it well. All great sides pass it well."

The omission of Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer due to a court case must be a blow to the England coach?

Kevin Keegan "I would like everybody available, but a decision was made, and there's nothing I can do about it. It wasn't my decision. I didn't have any input into the decision, but I can see the reasons why it was made."