Scholes feared for English place

The diminutive midfielder was given an unfamiliar role as Sir Alex Ferguson attempted to accommodate Juan Sebastian Veron into the Manchester Unite midfield.

Bad form and bad results were to follow - and Scholes, speaking in the News of the World, admits the stint took its toll.

"It was the first really bad spell I've had - and the worst crisis of my career," said Scholes to the Sunday newspaper.

"I would have to say I did get depressed. When you have a bad game, you feel like that for a few days.

"A number of times I didn't play well and it was difficult to get out of it - it wasn't very enjoyable. I tried not to be difficult to live with but it always played on my mind when I got home.

""I tried to forget about football but it was pretty difficult. I didn't have time to analyse it as we were playing Saturdays and Wednesdays every week.

"It never seemed to be getting any better. It was worrying for the first six to seven months of the season.

"It's so difficult when you are stuck in a hole - not scoring goals and not involved in games.

"You do everything the same but wonder where your next good game is coming from.

"You want to know why you are not playing well but don't always get the answers.

"You just try to keep doing the things you are good at and hope there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

"Of course, I thought it might affect my chances of playing in the World Cup.

"When you are playing like I did for the first few months of the season, it does get worrying if you know the England manager is watching.

"I started the season in a position where the manager thought I could do well and maybe score more goals. But it seemed to have the opposite effect. It didn't feel comfortable.

"I had done all right playing off the striker when I was coming through the reserves but I enjoyed it more when I was linking from midfield with players like Teddy Sheringham and Dwight Yorke.

""I spoke to the manager about it. He felt it worked out quite well in a couple of games, especially away matches in Europe, but it was nowhere near enough.

"I was playing in a new position and I was out of form anyway. It was a combination of those two things which made it a terrible six months for me.

"But in the last 10 to 12 games of the season, I felt all right again. I got help from Eric Harrison, the youth team coach, who has brought so many of us through at United.

"He rang me because he was concerned. He could see my confidence was a bit low and tried to talk me through it.

"He told me to carry on doing the things I had been doing for the last few seasons."