Lampard defends Eriksson tactics

Lampard missed a penalty in the friendly win over Hungary

Midfielder Frank Lampard has jumped to Sven-Goran Eriksson's defence as the England coach continues to experiment tactically ahead of the World Cup.

Eriksson has been criticised for using Jamie Carragher and Owen Hargreaves as midfield holding players.

Lampard said: "I have complete confidence in the manager.

"I don't see what we have done with the formation as a weakness. All we're doing is experimenting with different options. You'd be a fool not to."

During the 3-1 win over Hungary on Tuesday, Liverpool defender Carragher was used as the side's midfield holding player, with Bayern Munich midfielder Hargreaves deployed in the role after the break.

I thought Tuesday went pretty well Frank Lampard

Lampard, who missed a penalty during the game, gave a subdued performance in Tuesday's win.

"I don't know what people expect of me," said the 27-year-old midfielder.

"If they expect me to score goals every time I go on the pitch when I have been asked to play a pretty responsible midfield role, it is not going to happen. It is impossible.

"You can analyse individuals all the time but we are talking about the overall team performance and I thought Tuesday went pretty well, especially considering it was a slight change in formation from what we have played before.

"There were periods in the game when we were not quite at our best but there were also periods when we were - and we made them count."