Sven: I need more strikers

14 April 2012

Sven-Goran Eriksson revealed that his search for England strikers is still wide open as he admitted there is a shortage of proven international-class forwards in this country.

Eriksson, who could be offered a new contract by the Football Association once England have qualified for the Euro 2004 finals, was without Wayne Rooney and Darius Vassell for Wednesday's friendly against Croatia.

Despite those injuries, he still only picked three recognised forwards in Michael Owen, Emile Heskey and James Beattie.

Eriksson issued a challenge to players like Alan Smith, Jermain Defoe and Matt Jansen to live up to their promise, while also revealing that Southampton's new signing, Kevin Phillips, is still in his thoughts.

"We need strikers in England," said Eriksson. "We haven't got that many very good international strikers.

"We do have some young strikers, of whom Alan Smith is one, while Defoe is another. I also hope Phillips has a good season, while Jansen is coming back."

Eriksson's own future, meanwhile, has also been debated hotly over the past couple of months, but the FA have apparently started moves about a new deal.

While these could be interpreted as showing their support for Eriksson it could also be a way of testing his long-term commitment to the job.given speculation linking him to Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona after Euro 2004.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in