Comment: In praise of Eriksson

Sven-Goran Eriksson must have taken a great deal of pleasure in watching a rerun of his video stars' 2-0 away victory over West Ham on Saturday.

Since taking over as manager at Manchester City, the Swede has endured plenty of sniping from the British media, notably over the way he has recruited eight new players using - among other sources of information - videos to gauge the effectiveness of his new signings.

But on the evidence of City's win over West Ham, Eriksson clearly knows a thing or two about talent identification. And why not! He is, after all, someone who as a club manager won 18 trophies in Sweden, Portugal and Italy.

From the elan of Elano, to the bullishness of Bulgarian Martin Petrov, City showed a lot more quality than they did last season, as Dietmar Hamann was quick to point out on Match of the Day.

Perhaps the sniping of the media tells us more about England and English football than it does about Eriksson.

The media were always quick to pin the national team's failings on Eriksson rather than an underperforming group of players.

We were told that Eriksson was no Winston Churchill - he was dismissed as the Iain Duncan-Smith of English football.

The media conveniently forgot that, as a club manager, Eriksson had a record of producing entertaining and usually successful sides.

Before Eriksson came to England, I interviewed David Platt about the Swede when they were together at Sampdoria.

Platt recounted a story about Eriksson employing a chef, who was hugely popular with the players - as much for his sense of humour as his cooking skills.

It is a tale that says much about how much emphasis Eriksson places on the importance of team bonding.

Moreover, contrast the way City played on Saturday to the manner of their performances under Stuart Pearce.

The former City manager epitomised the traits of English football that fans and pundits invariably drool over - passion and commitment.

Yet the quintessential hard man of English football, forever remembered with his eyes blazing and fist raised after scoring that penalty against Spain in Euro 96, proved less capable of maintaining any semblance of discipline among his squad.

Pearce’s reign was scarred by a grotesque indiscipline.

As well as a poor man-management, Pearce's track record in the transfer market was equally lamentable.

What is Pearce doing now? Relearning his trade in the lower leagues, perhaps? Of course not, he is now in charge of his country's future international stars as the England Under-21 coach.

You could forgive Eriksson for thinking that the joke is on England rather than on him.

Thank you "http://news.bbc.co.uk" for detail.