DAVID BECKHAM insisted England are back on track after playing a behind-the-scenes role in the victory against Switzerland, which left them just a point away from the quarter-finals.

Beckham and his fellow midfielders had a significant part to play during the build-up to last night's game, having persuaded Sven-Goran Eriksson against moving back to a diamond formation.

And, even though England lost their opening group game 2-1 against France, their ensuing 3-0 win against the Swiss in Coimbra has revived their qualifying hopes.

Indeed, with France equalising to hold Croatia to a 2-2 draw in the other group game, England's position in Group B has become much more positive.

Now in second spot, they cannot top the group unless France fail to beat the bottom-placed Swiss in Monday's final group encounter.

However, a draw against Croatia would be enough to take England through to the last eight.

Indeed, Eriksson's perfect scenario would, presumably, be for Greece to top Group A ahead of Spain or Portugal, who meet on Sunday night, and meet England in the quarter-finals.

For the time being, however, Beckham was left to reflect on how England put their initial nerves behind them to overcome the Swiss.

"It settles us down as we've got points on the board now and we've got a win behind us, although we've still got to go and do it against Croatia," declared the England skipper.

Beckham also revealed how England's midfielders made it clear to Eriksson that they were against a move back to a diamond formation.

That was what Eriksson experimented with in training the previous evening, but the four midfielders - Beckham, Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard - are said to have been concerned at the potential outcome.

A meeting with Eriksson therefore ensued yesterday, with the England coach taking the views of his key players on board in what some would portray as weakness and others as management by consensus.

Beckham revealed: "The diamond formation was mentioned before the game, but we all decided and the manager decided that 4-4-2 was the best thing.

"The most important thing is that the manager listens to us. He sat all the midfielders down and asked what we felt best doing.

"He said 'I'm the manager and I'll obviously make the final decision, but I'll listen to you as well'.

"We said the final decision was up to him but we felt more comfortable in a 4-4-2 formation."

Eriksson had used the diamond system for almost 18 months after switching to it with successful results at half-time in Slovakia in October 2002.

However, it failed to sparkle in the penultimate warm-up against Japan and Eriksson experimented with a normal English-style flat midfield quartet against Iceland in his final preparation match.

That was retained against France and, following the pre-match meeting, against the Swiss as well.

"We played some good football against the French in that formation so we felt 'why change it' as we needed to carry it on."

The England skipper, meanwhile, played down any concerns over his own fitness even though he was limping slightly as he left the ground in Coimbra.

"It's just blisters, like some of the other lads, but it's not a problem," he maintained.