MICHAEL Owen's knee injury might be catastrophic news for England but in a perverse way it suddenly makes Sven Goran Eriksson's job a whole lot easier.

No manager would want to lose a player of Owen's calibre at this stage in a major tournament, particularly in the kind of traumatic circumstances we witnessed in Cologne on Tuesday night.

To see Michael writhing around in agony on the side of the pitch like that was a sickening sight.

Michael had had his fair critics in the opening two games of the tournament, but I was always convinced he would come good in Germany, especially with Wayne Rooney play ing alongside him.

The sad thing is this was meant to be the World Cup where we'd see Michael Owen performing at the peak of his powers.

Now it's going to be four years before the finest England striker of his generation gets another chance to play in a World Cup, by which point he'll be 30 and possibly past his best at the very highest level.

On the one hand, losing Owen might reduce Sven's options, but it also alleviates a few selection posers that were threatening to cloud the Swede's judgement as he flitted between his three strikers.

It looks to me like England now have two clear routes they can go down as they look to chart a path through to the final.

The first option is to play both Rooney AND Peter Crouch in a 4-4-1-1 formation, with Rooney used as a slightly withdrawn second striker.

The other alternative is a 4-5-1 formation, with Rooney operating as a lone striker and Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard used in advanced midfield roles, slightly ahead of a holding player like Owen Hargreaves.

Personally, I favour the first option and I think that's the plan Sven will look to execute against Ecuador on Sunday.

For that to work, however, it's absolutely vital Sven gets the right balance in midfield.

Picking the England team is not simply about picking the best 11 players; it's about getting the balance right to enable the team to perform to its maximum.

That's why I'd look to play Hargreaves in a four-man midfield alongside Steven Gerrard.

I know that leaves no place for Frank Lampard, but I'm not convinced he and Gerrard compliment each other anyway, so if it came down to a straight choice between the two, I'd go for the Liverpool captain because I think he offers more defensively.

Agree? Disagree?
Click on the 'add comment' button below to have your say