IT IS great to know that England are not a one-man band. When the national side's skipper David Beckham broke a toe three weeks ago England's chances were finished.

Then it transpired that Beckham would get fit and everything was fine once more.

So when Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard suffered a recurrence of a groin strain at the weekend and was counted out of the trip to Japan and South Korea again England's hopes were finished.

Well at least England are not a one-man team - they just can't afford anything more than one injury at a time.

What disappointed me most was the fact that Sir Bobby Charlton was the one to hand out the most recent doom-laden speech following the news that Gerrard needed surgery rather than a month long diet of sushi.

Being the owner of a World Cup winners' medal you would have thought that Sir Bobby might be able to view the bigger picture when it comes to the finals tournament.

In his own successful campaign the loss of prolific goal-scorer Jimmy Greaves, due to injury in a group match, was seen as a big blow yet his replacement Geoff Hurst turned out to be the nation's hero as he scored the crucial goals that brought a final appearance and then hit a hat-trick that eventually won the world crown.

It is all too easy to make a crisis out of what is only a drama.

With the benefit of hindsight viewed with rose-tinted spectacles, the 1990 tournament in Italy is seen by the majority of soccer fans in this country as an outstanding achievement in English football.

The truth is that after two group matches the wheels were all but off and those who emerged as heroes - David Platt and Paul Gascoigne - had not been viewed as first team choices but became so due to injuries and a need to find a formula that worked.

History would suggest that a little patience and a belief in the squad as a whole would be better than the current wave of pessimism because a certain player has been counted out.

So much for the bulldog breed!

It would seem to be more accurate to say that the English go into a blind panic at the slightest setback rather than pull together to beat the odds.

But in many ways it does not matter what the media pundits peddle as it is about the players who will actually be on the pitch and the way they react that matters.

There is every chance that England fans could be purring about the sublime skills of Joe Cole and the battling qualities of Danny Murphy in a couple of weeks time.

So why doesn't everybody just give the boys out in the Far East half a chance!