McClaren comes out swinging

Steve McClaren has come out fighting in an attempt to restore his credibility as England coach.

McClaren has faced widespread calls for his dismissal in the aftermath of the Euro 2008 draw with Israel.

After five games without a win, which have produced only one goal, many fans and pundits alike have reached the view England have little chance of reaching next year's finals in Austria and Switzerland with the former Middlesbrough manager at the helm.

But, in an effort to head off even more criticism ahead of Wednesday's (Thursday AEST) must-win encounter with the part-timers from Andorra in Barcelona's Olympic Stadium, McClaren brought forward his traditional pre-match briefing by 24 hours to launch a passionate defence of his team.

"I want to front up and say what I believe," he said.

"I deal in reality rather than perception. A lot has been said about Saturday's game but I have watched it again and gone through it with the players and, apart from the fact we didn't score, there was not a lot wrong.

"I have seen Israel draw twice with France. I have seen them draw in Russia. They are no mugs. Nobody expected them to be pushed back in their own half for all but the first 10 minutes on Saturday.

"People in football who I respect have phoned me and said the only thing wrong with our performance was that we didn't get a goal and someone who has watched a lot of international football said it was as good a performance as they have seen over the weekend.

"My own situation is not an issue for me but I get angry when people say things that are clearly wrong."

Castigated so often for putting on what many people perceive to be a false front, this was McClaren raw and unplugged.

His scatter-gun covered a range of subjects, particularly relationships with key members of his personnel, including Wayne Rooney and Terry Venables.

Reports of rifts with the pair were denounced as 'rubbish' as was the suggestion his highly-paid, underperforming players do not care about representing England.

"They care," he said.

"They are passionate about playing for England. I really do believe that. It hurts them when they lose.

"It is 10 times harder playing for your country than it is for your club. There is no problem with their attitude. They want to win. They failed on Saturday because they didn't score a goal, end of story."

In running down the list of games England have not won recently, McClaren found a plausible excuse for all of them, with the notable exception of the October defeat in Croatia, the major reason why his side currently find themselves outside the automatic qualifying spots in Group E.

All attempts to isolate individual failings were dismissed, with McClaren preferring instead to adopt a stance of collective responsibility for trying to rectify the faults that exist within the England squad.

Discussion over the possibility of switching Aaron Lennon to the right flank, or Steven Gerrard into the centre was non-existent.

And, while there was no actual hint one way or the other whether Frank Lampard would keep his place, McClaren did express a continued belief the Chelsea man can operate in the same midfield as Gerrard, whose preferred space he is taking now Owen Hargreaves is back to full fitness.

Unfortunately for McClaren, the major flaw he has identified within his side at present, is a fairly obvious one - they cannot score goals.

As finding the net is, by some considerable distance, the most important aspect of the game, unearthing a solution is a matter of extreme urgency if talk of his future, another subject which he refused to debate, is not to become inescapable.

"We can be criticised for not scoring and it is a problem we are trying to address." he said.

"It is not just about the strikers, I am talking about midfield players as well.

"Can we take more risks in the final third? Can we get more bodies into the box? Can we get better decisions on execution? Can we be more positive? That is what we have looked at."

For a side as low on confidence as England are at present, Andorra - four games played, 19 goals conceded, one scored, population 69,150 - should represent the perfect opponents.

Yet, what was amusingly described in one quarter as a European Championship qualifier against a ski resort, has McClaren searching for a banana skin.

"We just want to win," he said twice when asked what he would regard as an acceptable scoreline.

"It is people outside our group who will probably set us targets and tell us it is a disaster if we don't achieve them.

"The only thing that matters to me are results.

"We have to make sure we win the next two (equally pointless Estonia are England's next opponents on June 6), then we have tough games.

"There will be a lot of twists and turns in this group yet but I have great faith and belief in my players. That is what being a manager is all about."

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