Keegan keeps faith with Beckham

England coach Kevin Keegan has defended star midfielder David Beckham - and told the Manchester United rebel that he will start the friendly against Argentina at Wembley on Wednesday night.

In added bonus for Beckham - facing his second £50,000 fine of the season after rowing with United manager Sir Alex Ferguson on Saturday after missing Friday training - he gets to play his favoured central midfield position as Keegan introduces an experiment in team formation.

"I have talked to Alex and I've talked to David Beckham about what happened at the weekend. Those conversations are private. It is a Manchester United problem. David Beckham not playing at Leeds on a Sunday morning is a Manchester United problem.

"As far as I am concerned he will play on Wednesday. I am an outsider looking in. I put Teletext on when I get up on Sunday and see that. These things do happen in football."

"Sometimes managers and players have fallouts and differences of opinion."

"I think David is raring to go. He has been a model professional when he has been here. He turns up for everything that we do. He was late once but there was a genuine reason why and he phoned up and I don't have any problem with him. He is as enthusiastic as ever. He is still the last one to come off the pitch after training."

"I think a lot of people underestimate him because they don't know him. You pick up the bits that you read and you build up an image that I don't think fits the guy. Thee image that people have got of him is not my opinion. We all knew today wasn't going to be about Gareth Barry or young Steve Gerrard we know because of what happened at the weekend that it is going to be about David Beckham. What happened at the weekend saddens me. I am sure it saddens Alex Ferguson and I am sure it saddens Beckham but they will sort it out for the good of Manchester United."

"In David I see a very determined character who loves playing football and he is an exceptional trainer."

"All players are different. Alan Shearer is different to David Beckham who is totally different to Paul Scholes and Emile Heskey. They are all individually different. What makes one tick is different to what makes another tick."

"David Beckham has to live under slightly different pressures than some of the other players and I think they understand that as well."

"The David Beckham I see lives with pressure very well in this environment that I see. He has to learn to live with that People also have to try and understand his life."

"He is one of the first names on my team sheet. He has got an awful lot going for him as a player and as a person. He will have an opportunity again on Wednesday night to show people what he can do with a football. There are a lot of other things going on in his life that the papers write about every week. To me he is a footballer. He turns up at the training camp and I talk to him and tell him what I want him to do and you work with him. It is a simple as that for me. I do not want to spend my whole day talking about David Beckham."

"David Beckham will not decide whether we beat Argentina on Wednesday or not or if we win Euro 2000."

"I know what it's like to not be able to go down the street and do want you want to do. I had that all my life as well. Football has changed so much but my life was comparable to what David's is now. Its is hard to imagine and I am not going to even try and explain to you because I am not in that world."

"A lot of people think football and showbiz is the same thing now. The perception of footballers has changed a lot from when I played. There was celebrities, there was showbiz and football but now they are all intermingled. It is up to individuals to find a way through that."

"When I have watched Manchester United this season Beckham has been tremendous. He doesn't give the ball away, he is cute with it, he can hit it long, he can hit it short. It is an understatement to say that he is best crosser of a ball that I have ever seen. I have said that to you before."

"I think players like David Beckham - big name players - have something to prove each time they play. Whether it is a friendly game in Casablanca, a World Club championship, a game for England at Wembley or a game for Manchester United at Old Trafford they have a point to prove. I am not worried about his temperament. I know other people have concerns but I have never shared those concerns. I think he will find a way to do the job I have asked him to do that is right on the night." "I want the players to play for their clubs. I want them to play well. If they are goal scorers you want them to scorer goals if they are defenders you want them to defend and if they are crossers of the ball you want them to put good crosses in.

"I do not think "Oh that's great he can't get injured. The plus side is he is very fresh."

"If you look back at the European Cup final which is just about the last time he played as a central midfielder I though he did control the game from that position. He did run it for a long time and had more touches than anybody so he has proved on a very very big stage that he can do it so he will get the opportunity again."

"I will play David at centre midfield on Wednesday. It is a chance to see someone else on the right side. After the Scotland game we looked like a team who had not found the right formula yet. I will have Zanetti down that side who is a very good player but he is a right footed player playing down the left side, Kieron Dyer is one of the options I will be looking at."

Ferguson rarely plays Beckham at centre midfield - a position that the 24 year old is desperate to make his own for club and country.

Keegan is set to arrange the team around Beckham's desire to be the playmaker for England with a new striking partnership also being considered for the visit of the settled and experienced South American side.

"Alan Shearer and Emile Heskey is a combination we haven't really looked at. We have looked at most of the others. Heskey deserves a chance with the way he has trained with us and performed with us. It is a difficult week for his club. I am well aware that Leicester have a massive game on Sunday - the Worthington Cup final against Tranmere Rovers - that they can get into Europe and they do not have many strikers but I have to look at it from an England point of view as well. There is no conflict there but in a perfect world if Emile Heskey does start I would want him to get through the game having played very well without any injury problems so he can go and play on Sunday.

"I honestly believe that Paul Scholes can play anywhere. He played in David Beckham's position at Leeds and I thought he might have been the best player on the pitch. If I say to him play up front in a holding position he can do that. I tell him what to do and he just goes and does it."

Keegan rejected claims that his side would be out for revenge after England's penalty shootout defeat at France 98 against Argentina that saw Beckham red carded at the start of the second half for kicking out at Diego Simeone.

"No one can change what happened in St Etienne but what David Beckham can change - what we can change - is what happens from now on and that is all I am really interested in. I am not one for looking back. I am aware of incidents that have happened in England v Argentina games over the years and that is why it is such a great fixture. We could play another team which would be a nice knockabout for us and another win under our belt but if we can go out an perform against Argentina it will be a real test for us - worth coming to watch and we can gain something from playing against them.

The England coach was full of praise for Marcelo Bielsa's outfit who will be at near full strength on Wednesday as they prepare for the start of qualification games for the 2002 World Cup next month in the CONMEBOL region.

"I think Argentina at the moment are the second best team in the world behind Brazil. It is fantastic they way they play football. There will be eight or nine players playing on Wednesday who were in St Etienne and they have had this consistency and they are used to playing together."

"A really good performance would be fantastic. It is really important that we show the nation and ourselves that we are making progress and we are a team who not only wants to go to Euro 2000 and compete but has a chance of winning it."

"As manager of England I should not be scared of failure as long as we learn something from it. The other way is to put out tried and tested players who know won't let you down but you don't really make any progress. I think this is a game to say not too much experimentation but what about trying this or that and there aren't many opportunities left."