Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson has shrugged off criticism from Middlesbrough's Gareth Southgate during their days together with the England setup.

England's failure to beat a 10-man Brazil in the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup rates as a low point in Eriksson's reign and Southgate, who brings his Middlesbrough team to Eastlands tomorrow, subsequently claimed that at half-time in Japan, with England losing 2-1: "We wanted Winston Churchill and we got Iain Duncan Smith."

Eriksson said: "I don't know what he thinks and I'm really not interested in it. I will never be a Winston Churchill, I am who I am. I didn't do anything different during that half-time to what I normally do. What do you achieve by shouting? I can't scream, my voice isn't up to it, so I think if you want to tell your players something, you have to explain, tell them the reason, try to be constructive in what you say. When you play good football, no one argues; it's only when you lose a game people ask questions. But I won't change."

Despite the criticism, Eriksson predicts a bright future for Southgate as a manager.

"He was always very curious as a player and he always wanted to know what you were doing and why. He is a good manager and can get better and better."