Dyer and Jenas reluctant rivals for England

Kieron Dyer talks in the same way he plays – there is a generally high level of activity involved and sudden bursts of extraordinary energy. On the day before he was due to fly out for Saturday's Euro 2004 qualifier in Liechtenstein with the rest of the England players, Newcastle United's 24-year-old midfielder produced another characteristic verbal performance on the subject of his international future.

However, once the tape recorders had been turned off and the pencils put down, the likely form of his progress with the national side, and indeed that of his Newcastle team-mate Jermaine Jenas, remained obscure.

The England manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, has made it clear that three of his four midfield places are a block-booking for Messrs Beckham, Gerrard and Scholes, which leaves only the problematic left-side to be filled. In terms of talent, the 20-year-old Jenas and his senior colleague Dyer are bursting with credentials. The problem is that neither plays on the left of midfield for their club, and as they reflected upon their position yesterday, the vexed nature of Eriksson's task became clear.

Fresh from training at London Colney, Dyer went straight to the heart of the difficulty. "People say to me 'are you frustrated by being an England player and not getting the chance to play in your favourite position?'" he said. "My answer is, after seeing him again today, Paul Scholes is just on a different planet. He is an unbelievable player. I'm not frustrated because I feel Paul is the best attacking player we've got in the centre of midfield.

"There's talk of this position on the left-side. I do think I could do a job if I played there regularly. When I first came to Newcastle I played there in a number of games. But it's extremely hard playing 20 games in the centre of midfield and then meeting up with England and playing in a position which is different.

"You need to play there for a sustained period but unfortunately I don't get that with Newcastle. There's talk of JJ as well playing in that position. I think he'll have the same problem as well, even though he's mature and he can play anywhere.

"The only real time I have done myself justice in an England shirt was when Peter Taylor was in charge and we played Italy," he admitted. "It's no coincidence that I was playing in my favourite position in the centre of midfield."

After his panegyric on the Manchester United midfielder, it was put to Dyer that he might just have talked himself out of a chance of ever getting his favoured spot in the England team. He paused for a moment before finding the slimmest of silver linings.

"Scholes does get a few bookings, does get a few suspensions," he said with a faint grin. "It's a dog-eat-dog world. He has had his suspensions, and hopefully you're next in line. The way Newcastle are playing at the moment, if for some reason another midfielder was picked I would be frustrated. But not at the moment."

Dyer acknowledges one area where he is unmatched by any midfielder in England, and that is his running capacity and his ability to get stronger as the game goes on. "That's another bad thing with England as well," he added, with a wider grin. "We only play 45 minutes."

Eriksson's experiment of playing different teams in each half in last month's 3-1 defeat by Australia has been criticised, but the format did allow youngsters such as Jenas to be introduced to international football, and it was an opportunity for which the Nottingham-born player was deeply grateful.

Jenas acknowledges that he and his colleague could be competing for the same vacant slot in the England midfield, but denies that there is any great rivalry between them.

"Kieron has played out on the left, and so have I," he said. "But that's as competitive as it gets. There's no rivalry or anything like that. Me and Kieron are good friends on and off the pitch. He was good for me when I first moved to Newcastle. He went out of his way to ring me up and get me out of the house. He helped me mix in."

The younger man is also well aware of the difficulties involved in learning new tricks at international level. "If you are a central midfielder for your club throughout the whole of the season, and all of a sudden you get put out on the left or right-hand side, you face different options in the game," he acknowledged. "I'm not a winger, so naturally I'd come inside. And maybe that's not what you prefer a left winger to do. It does make it a bit difficult playing in a different position.

"I think of myself as a central midfielder but at the end of the day if there is a problem in the side and the manager feels a certain player can fill that position I'm sure I would do it. I've played on the right-hand side for Newcastle, and I used to play on the left for Nottingham Forest in a diamond formation, so I know I can do it. But obviously I would prefer centre midfield."

How will it end? Tune in for the next confusing instalment in Vaduz this weekend. Of course, should Paul Scholes ever actually find himself on a different planet, the situation would become simpler.