Diamond Rooney to shine in showdown

A striker at Everton, Rooney became England ' s youngest goalscorer from a deeper midfield position in the 2-1 win in Macedonia. Eriksson retained his services as a support striker to Michael Owen and James Beattie against Liechtenstein and Rooney responded with another goal from the edge of the penalty area.

"He doesn't play in that role normally for Everton but he's shown in two games for England that he can do it well," grinned Eriksson. "He's a clever player for his age and I would not be afraid to put him on from the start in Turkey."

Although he scored his first England goal against Macedonia, Rooney was a peripheral figure for long periods in that match. Last night, on the other hand, he dominated the game and provided the attacking impetus that was once the realm of Paul Gascoigne. He was rightly voted man of the match and received the loudest cheer of the night when he was substitutedin the 69th minute. There wasn't much else to cheer, to be honest, and for long spells in an indifferent and goalless first half bored fans floated paper planes onto the pitch.

Eriksson described England's performance as "professional" though the Liechtenstein coach, Walter Hormann, was nearer the mark when he said "disappointing."

Turkey won 3-0 in Liechtenstein at the weekend and Hormann reckoned: "England will find it really difficult to get a point in Istanbul."

The big challenge for Eriksson is to get his tactics and game plan right. It's hard to imagine him deciding to field three attackers in Turkey, as he did last night.

At times the England 'diamond', with Rooney at the cutting edge, was simply outnumbered by Liechtenstein in midfield.

England cannot afford to surrender control of the midfield to a technically accomplished Turkish side with players of Tugay's calibre pulling the strings. The Turks need to win to finish top of the group and Eriksson's line-up should be designed to cope with their attacking intent.

If he selects his favoured 4-4-2 he would have to decide whether to play Rooney as one of the front strikers, presumably alongside Michael Owen.

This partnership misfired in the first half in Macedonia, prompting Eriksson to send on the forceful Emile Heskey and withdraw Rooney into midfield.

Heskey never left the substitute's bench last night but his physical presence may be an essential requirement in Turkey.

Perhaps Eriksson didn't want to give too much away to Turkey's watching delegation.

They will already have been aware of the threat posed by Owen, who scored his 24th England goal from Steven Gerrard's deep cross soon after the re-start.

Now, too, they'll be deeply anxious about the threat posed by Rooney, who crisply drove home Gerrard's headed lay-off in the 51st minute. England had enough chances to win by five or six goals but couldn't take full advantage of modest, hardworking opponents who considered a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford something of a moral victory.

Eriksson even complained that England allowed their visitors one scoring opportunity, late in the game.

He added: "I was happy with 2-0 but the English mentality is to keep going forward and that can leave gaps at the back.

"When we're ahead I have an Italian's mentality."

It was, nonetheless, Eriksson's eighth consecutive victory and leaves him just two wins short of equalling England's all-time best sequence of results.

Ten straight wins, last achieved in 1908-09, would be a remarkable feat in the modern game - but the Turks may have something to say about that.