England Under 21 boss Peter Taylor has warned France that his young lions will throw everything at them this evening - including the kitchen sink - but says they will only go 'gung-ho' if the game is still goalless with ten minutes of their second leg, play-off tie to go.
Taylor accepts that for much of last week's clash, in front of a record Under 21 crowd at White Hart Lane, England did not find top gear, although Darren Ambrose's late equaliser means the tie is still very much in the balance.
The coach has been heartened by the response of his players to their average display and says that, bouyed by the national team's victory over Argentina, they will be 'up for it and buzzing' when they resume battle with the French in Nancy tonight.
"If we beat France, who have had an amazing run, then I feel we will have the same sort of belief (as the full England side) - and on our day we can beat France," says Taylor, who would love to lead the Under 21s to next year's UEFA championship finals.
"I have got no doubt that we did not show them what we are capable of on Friday. We had a very good meeting and the players were very positive about what they thought of the French and that they did not see what England can produce.
"It was always going to be a hard draw, and that is our fault for not winning the group. But I looked at the video of the game and I am more upbeat than I was on Friday," added the England boss who is unlikely to make many alterations to his starting line-up.
However, he did indicate that midfielder Gary O'Neil will return after a calf problem, so allowing Manchester United's rising star Kieran Richardson to revert to his more customary role on the left flank.
But Taylor is determined that England will not go all-out for victory from the off, insisting that the initial priority will be to remain solid and prevent the French from adding to their first leg goal.
He added: "If it is 0-0 after 80 minutes then we will throw the kitchen sink at France. But we certainly will not be like that to start with in the game. We will not change too much. We might have a slightly more solid shape to start the match.
"I tried to play a football team on Friday and it might have been with people who are not so good at defending but are good on the ball. It might be a little bit the other way to start off tonight. It might be more of a solid shape to start off with, frustrate the opposition and nick a goal.
"But some personnel coming in might have more defensive heads rather than just going forward and Gary O'Neil is certainly one of those. On Friday we had James Milner, Kieran Richardson and Darren Ambrose, three very attacking players. It is that area we have got to be careful with. Their right winger is a very good player and their left winger, Frank Ribery, came into midfield quite a lot."
The confident and determination in the Under 21 camp was summed up by striker Carlton Cole, who shares the optimism of his coach. "There is a genuine belief we can go over to France and win the second leg," says Cole. "We have always got the belief that we can beat anyone in the world on the right day.
"Everyone has got to be on top of their game. I feel I can take on any defender in the world if I am at the top of my game. If our big players like Darren Bent and Kieran Richardson are playing to their best form we will give them a good game and try and get a good result.
"We can take a lot of positives out of the first game. We were missing a lot of injured players like Nigel Reo-Coker who gives us so much strength in the centre of midfield. Everybody that came into the team did a good job because some of the players have not been playing together regularly. We did a good job to gel together against a great side like France."
