McClaren Asks For Patience
England boss Steve McClaren stressed the need for patience as England face Andorra in their opening Euro 2008 Group E qualifier at Old Trafford.
“Patience is going to be a key word. We must keep playing football and keep the ball moving at a good tempo,” said the new England manager.
McClaren hopes his team have learnt the lessons from the Trinidad and Tobago World Cup match when they struggled to win 2-0.
“Trinidad put 11 behind the ball and it was difficult to break them down and we lost our patience a little bit,” he added.
“We need to make sure we keep that and keep the width.”
McClaren has also ordered his team to keep their cool should they come under provocation from the visitors.
“What I am going to stress to the players is that we keep under control and not get antagonised.”
“In all the tapes I’ve watched, they’ve been very aggressive in their tackling, are not afraid to upset opponents and to get involved.”
Austrian referee Bernard Brugger will be in charge at Old Trafford and the England camp want him to keep a firm control on the match.
McClaren said: “They put themselves about. They are not easily beaten.”
“They give free-kicks away and we just need to be wary. We must stay in control, stay calm and finish the game with 11 players on the park.”
“They do commit many fouls and we need to be in control and the ref needs to be strong.”
McClaren knows he needs his team to produce an impressive display as he tries to make his mark after taking over from Sven-Goran Eriksson.
The former Middlesbrough manager’s first game in charge saw his side demolish Greece in a friendly in August and now he wants his players to improve on that showing.
“Against Andorra we are looking for the performance to carry on from Greece,” he said.
“Against Greece we went a rung up the ladder and we need to do it again. We need to become a great team.”
“We are not that at the moment and we need to produce performances that get us that recognition.”
“It’s a different type of game against Andorra. We are looking for a performance - to defend well and to be hard to beat and play good football.”
