IVAN Campo volunteered to play for Wanderers' reserves on Monday night in an attempt to recover his lost form.

The Spaniard is understood to have had a heart-to-heart with Sam Allardyce, after being hauled off early in the second half of Saturday's 2-1 defeat at West Brom.

He is said to have been so unhappy with his performance that he he felt a second team run-out might help get him back on track.

Campo's appearance in the reserve match against Aston Villa, which ended in a 1-1 draw, prompted speculation in the national Press that he had rowed with Allardyce and claimed he was heading for a heavy fine after threatening to pull out of the team's training break in Portugal.

Allardyce considered the report of a bust-up to be so wide of the mark that it was not worthy of a response and, despite suggestions to the contrary, he is understood to have been impressed by the player's attitude. Far from fining him heavily, he has given him extra time off.

Campo did not look happy when he was replaced by Blessing Kaku after just 65 minutes at The Hawthorns, but no one in the Wanderers' squad was smiling as they reflected on their most depressing result of the season, their ears ringing after an hour-long dressing down from the manager.

And it became clear on Monday that it was the former Real Madrid star's own personal performance in a poor team display that was nagging him.

The Wanderers squad that left for Portugal on Monday morning was shorn of many of its star names.

Ten members of the first team have been called up for international duty -- a record for the club in modern times.

Jay-Jay Okocha has now been ruled out of Nigeria's World Cup qualifier in Gabon after aggravating a groin injury, but Henrik Pedersen has teamed up with Denmark for their double-header, away to Albania and at home to Turkey next Wednesday, and eight others are on their travels, seven on World Cup duty.

Ricardo Gardner has games in Panama and at home to El Salvador; Gary Speed captains Wales against England at Old Trafford on Saturday, then at home to Poland next Wednesday; Jussi Jaasakelainen will be on duty with Finland at home to Armenia and in Holland; Stelios travels to Ukraine with Greece; Radhi Jaidi plays for Tunisia in Malawi y, Tal Ben Haim plays for Israel at home to Switzerland and El-Hadji Diouf plays for Senegal at home to Liberia.

With Nicky Hunt on U21s duty for England at home to Wales and in Azerbaijan, Allardyce will have to wait until Friday week -- the day before the home game against Crystal Palace -- before having the bulk of his squad together again.