We all know what it's like. You're enjoying watching England play, then the entire team gets substituted and the match becomes a complete waste of time. The bad news is that Svenn will be doing the same this Wednesday as well. The good news is that at least least we'll get to see Beattie for the meaningful part. Hopefully, knowing that he's only got 45 minutes to impress, which is in itself stupid, he'll put that much more effort into his game.
While the hacks drone on about Wayne Rooney, the only regular Premiership goalscorer in the squad is Beattie. The press might not like it, but Beattie has every chance of becoming a regular feature in the squad.
'If you can score 16 goals in the Premier League, you are a good player,' said Eriksson, having to state the obvious to the less than intelligent press pack.Svenn then gets out his crayon set and illustrates Beattie scoring with a header, both feet and pulling away defenders.
'James is very strong, good in the air and scores goals,' he continued. " If we had been preparing for a qualifying game, this squad would have looked a lot different but he has a realistic chance of staying in it.'It's nice of him to say that. Firstly because it's true if you want England to notch up a few goals. Secondly, it paves the way in the hacks' minds that Beattie might be around for a while.
Even with a decent performance on Wednesday, Beattie should be resigned to the fact he's going to have to be the season's top scorer to continue to get a look in.