HAS Sven-Goran Eriksson finally got the bottle to dump the Becks?

That's the Hamlet-like teaser the prince of Sven-mark now has to answer ahead of tomorrow's World Cup qualifier in Poland.

Now, there will be many who will blanch at the idea of dropping skipper David Beckham. He is, in many quarters, viewed as the nation's talisman, the three-lioned inspiration, Albion's ace in the pack, or so it has been monotonously claimed since that virtuoso and virtually one-man show against Greece to qualify for the last World Cup.

However, that was then, indeed way back then. This is now and on the evidence of the calamitous collapse against hosts Austria in the opening qualifier for the 2006 World Cup Beckham needs to step down.

The tattooed one's reputation has dimmed quicker than Wayne Rooney's shift from blue to red.

His performance in the 2006 opener was at best functional for the first 70 minutes when England ruled almost imperiously in the heart of the former Hapsburg empire. England were in complete control. It was a strut, a stroll, an amble in Austria until the self-destruct button was pressed.

Up until then the armband-wearer's influence was minimal. True, his quick-thinking set up Frank Lampard at a superbly-executed indirect free-kick. That apart, his was a pallid show reminiscent of his dreary days of summer in Portugal.

Then for those last 20 minutes the man who professed a pre-match desire to be Captain Marvel, a la Bryan Robson, turned in a captain anonymous display. Beckham's former Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville must have wondered if their legendary friendship had been broken for Becks was nowhere to be seen along the right flank.

As Austria pressed, fuelled by a venomous free-kick to halve the arrears, Neville was left in far from splendid isolation as most of the hosts' attacks poured down that flank.

Beckham could be found sometimes on the other wing to beg the question as to whether that winged cross on the back of his neck contained a magnet which Austrian boss Hans Krankl was manipulating to drag the England leader out of position.

At the same time as he went AWOL, Beckham's fragile discipline flared as he sought retribution for an earlier flare-up with diminutive midfielder Dietmar Krubauer. Never mind bringing off Steven Gerrard - his substitution later revealed to be somewhat of a farce as he had signalled the bench that Wayne Bridge was suffering a knock - Beckham's involvement would have served England better had it been curtailed.

The fresher legs of Shaun Wright-Phillips - you know the one, a man in bristling form young enough too to be ravenous, let alone hungry, to prove himself on the international stage - would have offered England more than their limb-weary skipper.

But no, on Beckham stayed, and it seems on he will stay ad nauseam as long as Sven is in control. It's as if his on-the-field lieutenant is exempt from being substituted, is exempt too from criticism.

Another vexed selection teaser revolves around the current occupier of the goal-keeping jersey, David James.

Okay he may be in defiant form for his Manchester City club side, but the Premiership is far removed from the international arena and perhaps James should be too.

While he wears England's number one the strapping net-minder carries a mistake in the making. He is but one minute away from mishap.

Even before the James clanger when his embarrassing gaffe gifted the Austrians an equaliser, the 34-year-old 'keeper suggested he was about to add to his 'calamity' reputation.

In preparation for tomorrow's tie hosted by a Polish side who started their group six campaign with a 3-0 win in Northern Ireland, it is not feasible that Sven will drop either Beckham or James. But he has to be considering that possibility. No-one should be guaranteed an automatic place.

Come on Sven, get tough.

Updated: 09:49 Tuesday, September 07, 2004