McClaren in positive mood

Head Coach Steve McClaren believes England have the strength in depth to more than make up for the injuries that have affected key players.

England face Germany at Wembley next Wednesday in a friendly, before two potentially decisive European Championship qualifiers against Israel and Russia next month, minus the services of Wayne Rooney and possibly David Beckham.

Although McClaren admitted that the Manchester United striker’s latest foot injury was a blow, he is confident that he can call upon a host of Premiership players with the ability to perform on the international stage.

He said: "We’ve still got Peter Crouch and Michael Owen who may be fit and available to play against Germany.

"But the likes of Alan Smith, Andy Johnson, Darren Bent, Jermain Defoe and David Nugent - these are players who have played for England and shown they can perform at this level."

McClaren was also keen to stress that after a positive end to last season, England have already demonstrated they have the ability to gain results without the likes of Rooney.

He said: "We’ve just had a positive summer. Against Brazil, Albania and Estonia we gave fringe players a game and had a look at the squad.

"We had good performances against Albania and Estonia and that’s put us back in contention for qualification and that was without Rooney. So we’ve dealt with it before and we’ll deal with it again."