Is McClaren going to follow Jol's example?

Last updated : 08 September 2006 By SpursMAD

Peter Crouch is a very different type of partner for Wayne Rooney in England's attack compared to Michael Owen.

You would say though they offer the little and large pairing Martin Jol favours at White Hart Lane. Steve McClaren is likely to work on that as he plans for next month's Euro qualifiers.

However, if the England boss wants at least one natural winger in his side, playing Steven Gerrard on the right and Joe Cole on the left would be akin to the season before last at Spurs when Aaron Lennon was still playing for Leeds.

Lennon perhaps has more chance of replacing Cole on the left for England than Gerrard on the right, but the right wing is where he's most effective, or at least that is what we assume since he played there for virtually all of last season.

The option is also there to move Gerrard back into the middle and drop Frank Lampard, but the question that needs answering is does his performances in the two qualifiers warrant that fate? Probably not, although McClaren should not disregard any option while he continues down the route of not naming his first choice striker to play alongside Rooney.

Source: Matt Dickinson in The Times