England's caretaker manager Peter Taylor has vehemently denied reports that he gave advice to future England manager Sven Goran Eriksson on how to beat Leeds United in the Champions League this week. The man who is to succeed Taylor as manager of the national team is still in charge of Italian Serie A champions Lazio until July 2001 and David O'Leary takes his Leeds' side to Rome to face Eriksson's men in a crucial Champions League clash on Tuesday.
Peter Taylor was the mastermind behind Leicester City's comprehensive 3-1 win over Leeds on Saturday and he met Eriksson in Rome last week to discuss the England situation, with respect to the recent friendly in Turin and February's meeting with Spain at Villa Park.
Taylor stressed however, that he is behind the Premiership teams in Europe 100 per cent and that he would in no way assist anybody in plotting their downfall.
"To say I have helped Sven in providing information about Leeds is totally wrong," Taylor insisted.
"Nothing, in fact, could be further from the truth. When I went to Rome last week to see Sven I did say to him that Leeds United are a very good team.
"But that was the extent of our conversations as regards Leeds United. I was there to talk to him purely about England matters and nothing else. Nothing was said about Leeds.
"It is an understatement to say that I am annoyed about what has been suggested.
"Although we beat Leeds on Saturday they are still a tremendously talented team who have achieved some fantastic results in the Champions League already this season," he added.
"They now have to go to Rome to face Lazio but I see no reason why they can't produce another outstanding result."
Both Lazio and Leeds need a good result in Wednesday's clash having lost their opening games of the second phase to Anderlecht and Real Madrid respectively. Eriksson's side beat Reggina 2-0 at the weekend but are only seventh in Serie A, having lost twice this season while Leeds will want to bounce back from their defeat at Leicester.
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