Southampton striker James Beattie remains convinced that he need not move away from St Mary's to become an England regular. Saints' fans believed that Matthew Le Tissier never got the recognition he deserved whilst playing for the south coast club but Beattie, who scored 23 goals last season, is confident he can make the breakthrough on the international stage - without following the lead of Wayne Bridge.
"I am a Southampton player, I am in the squad, that proves it can be done," said Beattie. "By nature I am a confident person and I never doubted I could score goals in the Premiership providing I kept clear of injuries. The thing that is foremost in my mind is to keep playing well for Southampton, scoring goals and getting points to push us up the table. If I am playing well enough for Mr Eriksson to include me in his squad then that is a massive bonus."
Beattie is one of only four strikers in Eriksson's squad for the Euro 2004 qualifiers against Macedonia and Liechtenstein and his bid for a place in the starting line-up alongside Michael Owen was done no harm by scoring the winning goal against Manchester United at St Mary's last Sunday.
Beattie has made three brief appearances for England so far but the 25-year-old is determined to grasp the opportunity if it is handed to him.
"I have not had a full 90 minutes for my country yet, and it would be nice to start a game knowing I was not going to be taken off after 45 minutes. I have just got to keep doing well at club level, and then if I am called into the team I will try to make it as difficult as I can for Mr Eriksson to leave me out."
Beattie was given his first taste of international football against Australia at Upton Park last February, but was then left out of the following squad in favour of Aston Villa's Darius Vassell.
"I was down for a few hours after I was left out of the squad," recalled Beattie. "But really it made me more determined to get back in and the only way I was going to do that was by scoring even more goals. I know this season will be a lot harder than the last one and I am aware of the importance of scoring on a regular basis".
"Your performances get judged on a whole season, not one game, so in that sense, the goal against Manchester United was not any more important than the others. But to get the winner in the final minute against the champions cannot have done me any harm."
Despite recent speculation Beattie insists that he is happy at Southampton but admits that he has some way to go before he is talked of in the same breath as the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy.
"You cannot compare me to van Nistelrooy, he is far better than I am. Gordon Strachan has told me that. Maybe I could beat Ruud at arm wrestling."
