LONDON (AFP) - England's demoralising performance in Zagreb, which put a dent in their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, has put the coach under pressure with serious questions being asked over his tactics. Holland are lined up in Amsterdam, next month, and England will arrange another friendly at home in February. "With my coaches, I have to find out the reasons why we lost and put them right," said McClaren.
"We will use the two friendlies effectively and maybe our approach will be different in some respects. The personnel will maybe have to be different." England must take big strides forward if they are to finish in one of the two qualification places at the top of Group E.
They are already off the pace, after dropping five points from their last two games, and face daunting trips to both Israel and Russia next year. Coming just four months after a disappointing World Cup campaign, Saturday's draw at home to Macedonia and defeat in Croatia have left England followers feeling flat. "I think we can become a side which achieves things," said the coach.
"We have to use the friendlies and really get into individuals and the squad, get into what wins and what will win, so that when we get to the qualification games in five months, the approach is different. "We have learned from all the experiences in the last four games and will make sure we are going in the right direction." Former skipper David Beckham looks unlikely to earn a recall but Kevin Nolan and Jermaine Pennant are two players who may come into McClaren's reckoning - the same goes for Aston Villa's Gareth Barry.
McClaren said: "You have to look at personnel. You have to get the right people on the bus going in the same direction and that's staff and players. "There are players in the Under-21s knocking on the door and we will be looking at them very, very closely.
"Getting them as a team is the biggest thing. We talked about playing as a cohesive team and we haven't achieved that yet.
News RSS