Upson shrugs off Beckenbauer barb

Matthew Upson has warned Franz Beckenbauer that England will adopt the tactics that win the games and ignore his barbed comments about the Three Lions' style of play.

The German legend has launched a vicious attack on Fabio Capello's side, accusing them of a "kick and rush" approach to the game, claiming they have gone backwards under their £6million-a-year boss, but he does not feel there is any reason for England to be deflected from their chosen path.

"We will play the football that suits us best," said Upson. "We want to win matches, so we will play the style according to that."

Beckenbauer's comments have been met with a shrug of the shoulders from the England camp, who, as well as Germany played on Tuesday night, do not believe a single four-goal defeat of an ageing Australia outfit give them any reason to crow.

Upson was not keen to become embroiled in a war of words with Beckenbauer, who led his team to World Cup glory as a player in 1974 and a coach in 1990.

But he added: "Whatever he thinks about our style of play is his opinion. If we are accused of kick and rush but win something, I don't think many people would complain."

Upson did admit England had been working hard on the training ground attempting to iron out the problems that surfaced at the weekend.

He does report a Capello reaction that is slightly at odds with the overall perception.

"The manager has indicated to us he was very pleased with certain aspects of our performance," said Upson. "Whenever he watches us play he looks for the things he wants to see. It might be different to what everyone else sees.

"On Saturday he saw some things he was very pleased with. I also think he saw some things he would want us to improve on. That is the key to management. We have been working on it in training and hopefully that will make us a better team in future."