McManaman stated in his biography that he was struggling at the time working out if Eriksson rated him, saying that although he could see reasons why the coach dropped him (Eriksson picked Emile Heskey ahead of McManaman to start the Greece game and only brought McManaman on when England were still 2–1 down with 15 minutes to go), he (McManaman) wondered: "didn't understand it; if he didn't rate me, why would he bring me on against Greece we were losing?" This prompted some media commentators such as Brian Reade to suggest that it was McManaman's attitude, mentality or pride that Eriksson did not like and was the reason for his drop.