Frank Lampard has told his England World Cup team-mates: "Your country needs you."

Last month's shock defeat to Northern Ireland has left Sven-Goran Eriksson's men little margin for error as they look to clinch direct qualification for next summer's finals in Germany.

Although finishing top of group six may not be necessary as the best two second-placed sides accompany the eight group winners as automatic qualifiers, anything other than victory over Austria at Old Trafford today would leave England's hopes looking sick.

Trying to save face after an embarrassing defeat is not the type of experience Lampard has grown used to over the last 18 months.

As the driving force behind Chelsea's relentless rise to Premiership superiority, the 27-year-old midfielder is accustomed to winning on a weekly basis.

The only comparable situation Lampard has found himself in at club level in recent times came with successive defeats to Newcastle and Barcelona immediately prior to the Carling Cup final.

Lampard and his team-mates responded by seeing off Liverpool in extra time to secure the first trophy of Jose Mourinho's tenure before strolling to the title two months later.

Now Lampard is looking for a similar reaction from England. And the former West Ham man is pulling no punches about the need for his international team-mates to prove their worth.

''Every team has moments when things are not going well,'' he said. ''That is when you need to stand up and be counted.

''If you look back over the last year or so, there are not many games we have not won with England.

''We have had a little dip but we have to keep in mind the feelings we had after the Northern Ireland game.

''It was horrible - as bad as you could feel as a player on the international stage.

''Effectively it was a derby and with the players in our team we know we should have won. Instead, we didn't perform as we can and lost.

''We were unhappy with our performances as individuals and as a team. No-one is hiding from it and we have to remember how hurt we were.''

Although Eriksson has yet to publicly announce his line-up, it is widely assumed he will ditch the experiment of using David Beckham in a holding midfield role and restore the England skipper to his usual slot on the right.

The move will allow England to play with two conventional strikers, yet also revive the debate over whether Lampard and Steven Gerrard can operate alongside each other in the same midfield.

Both are forward-thinking by instinct, but one must adopt a more defensive mindset to avoid the possibility of England's defence being exposed on the counter-attack.

Gerrard has indicated it should be him, although Lampard is happy to accept some of the responsibility as well.

''We are intelligent enough to know when one goes forward the other has to stay,'' he said.

''We both have good attacking instincts and you see that a lot in our play.

''But I don't think I get into the opposition box too much. I spend a lot of time in the middle of the park trying to build the game up.

''If Steven is saying he will hold that little bit more, it is fine by me. But if he wants to get forward, I am happy to hold too.''

After spending the summer among the favourites to lift the World Cup, England's odds have drifted significantly on the back of the Belfast shambles, which followed a humiliating friendly defeat to Denmark in August.

Not that Lampard is reading too much into the results themselves.

As a keen student of the game he knows the eventual winners have often not produced their best form in qualifying, or even during the opening stages of the five-week tournament.

And he is confident England have the players to get it right when it really matters.

''We are not happy with how we have been playing but the belief is still there,'' he said.

''Every team can go through these patches. What you have to do is learn lessons from them and then get out of it."

Eriksson insists Beckham is still an inspirational figure forthe national side.

Eriksson said: ''David has a private problem in the family and I hope that will be resolved as quickly as possible. It is always a worry when your children have a problem. Of course, he is worried about that and it is understandable.

''But in training he has been very focused and he will go out as captain, do the job and will be focused on taking England to the World Cup finals.

''Can he repeat his form of four years ago? Maybe the best answer to that will be in the 90 minutes on Saturday but I still think he can inspire the team.

''I am quite convinced about that and I am convinced England as a team will go out there and take the three points which might be enough if other results go in our favour.''