Cole, Gerrard, Hargreaves, Lennon

Is that England's first choice midfield? It should be - and all four were missing last night.

I am not a McLaren apologist and I thought his appointment was a nervous fudge by the FA. Yes, tactically he appeared to get it wrong, but with the players available to him, a 4-4-2 formation (with Downing on the left - who else?) against a team who have never lost at home would look very thin.

I accept the thinking behind 5-3-2 and although I pretty fed up with watching England at the moment (where are the heroes? where is the three lions pride?), I'm not prepared to hang McLaren quite yet.

Posted By: The Judge, Oct 12, 09:46:29