Rory Delap has admitted he would find it hard to pick Southampton's central midfield pairing this season.

The Irish midfielder, who has joined up with

his country ahead of their Euro 2004 qualifying match with Switzerland on Wednesday, believes there is little to choose between himself Anders Svensson and Matthew Oakley.

They have all had a spell in the team and on the bench this campaign and Delap said: "It's hard to pick out of the three. We are all different players as well which makes it harder still.

"Anders is more of a dribbler when he has the ball and when we play together he usually gets forward a bit more but the gaffer has said that he wants me to be getting in on the end of crosses.

"Matt Oakley tends to sit a little bit more and he has every pass in his locker and can spray the ball around and hit shots from outside the box.

"There's not much to choose between any of us really."

But Delap believes that whoever Gordon Strachan picks needs to start hitting the back of the net. None of the three have netted this season but that is something Delap is working on.

The club's record £4m signing added: "We do need more goals from the midfield, it's been poor this season. You can't always rely on the frontmen.

"It's difficult to say why I haven't scored yet. Speaking to the gaffer and Steve Wigley they say I'm getting in there but seem to be rushing and missing the crosses by getting in too early and maybe I don't need to make as many runs into the box but time them a bit better."

For the moment though Delap is focused on getting in the Ireland team and helping his country get back on track after they lost their opening qualifier to Russia.

"It was a poor result last time out," he reflected. "I wasn't involved but with the lads telling us about Japan and how great it was, it was disappointing to start with a loss.

"It makes the second game even bigger and we know that now we have to go and win against Switzerland.

"I was disappointed to be left out. I had been involved in the last two games, not the World Cup, but I thought I had a chance and in the end I wasn't even on the bench.

"But playing back home again it should be a good atmosphere, it would have been better if we'd won the last game but it is a chance for the fans to welcome home the lads who went to Japan."