It is a long time, however, since all those components came together. Senol Gunes, the Turkey manager, is said to have told Eriksson that defeat will cost him his job. Eriksson’s characteristically measured response was: “Maybe he wants the job. To counter this quartet, Eriksson needs to stand by the plan to reshape his flat midfield into a diamond, even if his reluctance to omit Steven Gerrard means it may be a flawed one. Nicky Butt is a better anchor and Kieron Dyer likely to be a more damaging left point, but one will have to make way for Gerrard.The tactical debate, Eriksson admitted, is less crucial than the mental one.

He said: “Organisation is very important but what is inside you is more important. Do you want to win the 50-50 tackle? Do you want to run off the ball even when the pass does not come? Do you really want to win the game?” He might have added: Do you genuinely believe in yourself?Given the right platform to express themselves, and the collective confidence and desire to do so, England should be top of Group Seven tonight. The World Cup revealed the national side to be just as accomplished, and Eriksson will specifically warn his team about the talented midfield of Okan Buruk, Tugay Kerimoglu, Yildiray Basturk and Emre Belozoglu. On the last occasion a Turkish team visited these shores, Galatasaray successfully wound up Leeds with such dark arts, but they also played some sublime football. Turkey are technically skilled, well coached and highly motivated, but they also have less admirable traits. The moral high ground British players used to inhabit is now barely a hillock, but they are still more likely to suffer than commit such sharp practices as feigning injury, diving and holding. I don’t like people shouting and running around.”While this prompts the question as to how Eriksson would have coped with Paul Gascoigne at his most mischievous, he may have a point.

“I don’t think it is a sign of leadership to talk with a high voice, shouting,” said Eriksson “I prefer to have good footballers We have a quiet group and I like that. But Patrick Vieira, fast supplanting Roy Keane as the Premiership’s most inspirational leader, is not one for histrionics. Being less vocal does not make us less passionate.”There lies the crux. This is a quiet team lacking a Paul Ince or Tony Adams to rally the side in traditional manner with clenched fists and bloodied brows. For footballers and football managers, it’s the only answer.”Not that, said Beckham in a defence of the manager that went well beyond lip service, Eriksson lacks inner fire “It is wrong to say that,” said the captain “He is a passionate person and a passionate manager I have seen him shout at people. The reality, as he acknowledged, is that “you are always criticised if you do not win football games, whether shouting or not shouting The answer is to win them. Having been praised for his dispassionate nature when he arrived, Eriksson could be forgiven for being confused.

As David Beckham said yesterday: “I think now they have started they will carry on in some quarters of the press. If we win this game it might be lifted for a short while but when the next game comes up we have to do it again and again.”Since he sat motionless in Shizuoka as England tamely departed the World Cup, Eriksson has been heavily criticised for lacking passion, a judgement which has been extended to his team after Saturday’s Liechtenstein match. Anything less, even a fortuitous victory, will not be enough. Following a series of pedestrian displays, the few critics who were against Eriksson from the start, because he was not English and not Terry Venables, have been joined by a majority of more reasoned pundits.While the public appear more patient, few national managers can withstand a sceptical media for long. It seemed gathering storm clouds were preparing the England manager for the maelstrom that will engulf him should Turkey triumph at the Stadium of Light tonight.