Brown and Barry pick up knocks on England duty
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Your support makes all the difference.Gareth Barry and Wes Brown are concerns for England after picking up minor injuries in training yesterday. The two players did not play a full part in the practice session at London Colney yesterday but they should both be fit to play against Slovenia in the international friendly on Saturday.
Fabio Capello's 24-man squad trained for the second time this week at Arsenal's Hertfordshire headquarters yesterday. James Milner denied allegations from the Croatian Football Association that English players had deliberately targeted Croatian players ahead of next Wednesday's World Cup qualifier between the two nations. It followed Luka Modric's broken leg sustained in a tackle with Lee Bowyer of Birmingham City on Saturday.
"Obviously it's nonsense," Milner said. "We just go out there to play as well as we can. You don't look at who you are tackling when you are on the field. You don't think 'Oh it's him, I'll go in hard on him.' You just are just trying to win the ball."
The Aston Villa winger is also considered cover at right-back by Capello, a position he has played in only once in club football. He could feature in that position were Brown to miss out. Milner said: "My strengths are attacking. My best positions are wide either side, or even in the centre going forward. But if the manager comes to me and says he wants me to play at full-back, I will. I am not going to say I don't want to, for club or country.
"Wherever the manager wants me to play, I will. Personally I think I am better going forward. But I suppose it is a compliment if people think you can play in other positions. If the manager thinks I can play right-back, it shows the manager thinks I can adapt and that I have a brain. It is a compliment."
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