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Paul Scholes does not blame Sven Goran Eriksson for early England retirement
Jun 18, 2011 10:07:00 AM
Ex-Manchester United star quit international football at 29, but says it wasn't because he was played out of position by the Swede, just that he was unhappy with his England form
Paul Scholes has denied that the reason he retired from international football was because then England manager Sven Goran Eriksson was playing him in left-midfield.
Scholes bowed out of England duty at the age of 29 with 66 caps to his name - an alarmingly low total for a player who achieved so much at club level. But the recently-retired Manchester United star says his decision was made because he did not think he was playing well enough for the national team.
"Maybe for half the games I played for England, I was alright," Scholes told reporters.
"My England career started quite well. In the first 20 to 25 games I scored quite a few goals. From then on it just didn't go as well as I would have liked.
"It was my fault for not playing as well as I should have done."
England’s left-midfield was a problem position for many years and a position Scholes played in under Sven Goran Eriksson, though the 36-year-old says that had nothing to do with his decision to quit the international stage.
"That was rubbish," he said.
"Some people said I fell out with Sven because he played me on the left, but that was never the case.
"I'd played on the left at Manchester United for a couple of seasons, done well and scored a lot of goals.
"That was never an issue. It was just, for one reason or another it didn't work out.
"It was a pleasure to play for England," he added.
"To be recognised by your country and to be asked to play for them is something special and something everyone would want to do.
"Obviously I would have liked to have won something with England but it wasn't a successful time - well there hasn't been one of those for a while. That is just the way it went."
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