Barnes given terrier role

BY GLENN MOORE

A team designed not to lose was one assessment. An alternative view suggested it was chosen on police advice - to prevent a repeat of the late rush for tickets that swamped Goodison Park on Tuesday.

Certainly England's side to play Sweden at Elland Road tonight is not the most exciting of Terry Venables's reign - not unless you are Colin Cooper that is. The Nottingham Forest defender will become the 18th player given his international debut by Venables who has now used 37 players in 10 games.

However, the attention will be focused not on Cooper but on the familiar faces - too familiar as far as most supporters are concerned - of John Barnes and Teddy Sheringham. Barnes, not previously known as a fearsome tackler, assumes the mantle of Paul Ince and David Batty as the midfield anchorman.

It is not as daft as it sounds, Barnes has filled the role with success for Liverpool and it could be the saving of his England career.

England traditionally reserve this post for scrappers rather than passers but players who look good in the Premiership, where possession is always transitory and loose balls proliferate, struggle against opponents with a good first touch and an ability to pass the ball around them - like Romania or Brazil.

Neither do they contribute much creatively. Barnes, though unlikely to inflict bone-jarring tackles, is capable of, as he says, "getting a toe in".

To do this he will need movement around him, far more than England had against Japan on Saturday. This is where Sheringham comes in. Compared to Stan Collymore, who has been dropped, the Tottenham striker lacks pace and power, but he does have a far greater understanding of how Venables wants to play the game.

This was evident as soon as he replaced Collymore against the Japanese. While Collymore had waited in vain for the ball, with the result that England's forward moves became clogged by lack of movement, Sheringham dropped deep to create space for himself, and for midfielders to run into.

Sheringham is one of six changes, including the entire back four where Gary Pallister is expected to be fit to play alongside Cooper, a former team-mate at Middlesbrough. If Pallister's rib injury reacts badly to yesterday's training John Scales will play.

Cooper was a left-back at Middlesbrough, and it was only after he moved to Millwall that Mick McCarthy turned him into a central defender. Now 28, he has impressed in the Premiership with Nottingham Forest though Venables has long rated him - he revealed he had considered buying him for Tottenham.

Sweden, dispirited and under strength, are probably the ideal opposition for England at the moment. Only four of the side that lost in the World Cup semi-finals to Brazil will be playing but it does include Thomas Ravelli. The IFK Gothenburg goalkeeper will win his 126th cap tonight, surpassing Peter Shilton's record. Only Majid Abdullah, whose 147 appearances for Saudi Arabia have recently been ratified by Fifa, is ahead of him.

As this is England's first home game outside Wembley since 1966, when they drew with Poland at Goodison Park, there will be much interest in the crowd. A near full house is anticipated but 10,000 tickets remained unsold yesterday afternoon - they will be available until 4pm today. No cash admission will be allowed.

ENGLAND (4-4-2): Flowers (Blackburn); Barton (Newcastle), Cooper (Nottingham Forest), Pallister (Manchester United) or Scales (Liverpool), Le Saux (Blackburn); Anderton (Tottenham), Barnes (Liverpool), Platt (Sampdoria), Beardsley (Newcastle); Shearer (Blackburn), Sheringham (Tottenham).

SWEDEN (probable; 4-4-2): Ravelli (IFK Gothenburg); Sundgren (AIK Solna), Lucic (Vastra Frolunda), Bjorklund (IFK Gothenburg), Kamark (IFK Gothenburg); Alexandersson (Halmstads), Thern (Roma), Erlingmark (IFK Gothenburg), Gudmundsson (Halmstads); Larsson (Feyenoord), K Andersson (Caen).

Referee: L Mottram (Scotland).