McClaren faces up to familiar flaws

Group E England v Macedonia: England 0, Macedonia 0 Steve McClaren is ahead of schedule, but not as he would have wished. Those who did not expect his value as England manager to be judged until the Euro 2008 finals will feel his worth as motivator and organiser will be tested in Zagreb on Wednesday. The lifeless showing against Macedonia was McClaren's first shock in his new job.

His team needs to be reactivated and that task may trouble him even more than the thought Croatia have never lost a competitive game at home. This draw was at least constructive because, for the first time it pitched McClaren's side against opponents whose coach had thought in detail about how best to stop this remodelled England.

With Goran Pandev so far advanced he was more or less a third forward, Srecko Katanec had sent out a Macedonia line-up with a presence in attack to stop the home side building from the back. England were without a pattern and when Steven Gerrard sought to introduce some unpredictability by going to the left the most noteworthy result was a horrible cross with his wrong foot.

McClaren's team were baffled as key players misfired. Gerrard was busily bad and Frank Lampard quietly so. When the latter clogged a second-half free-kick high above the heads for which he was aiming there was a small shock in remembering the Chelsea midfielder was still on the pitch. England had a collective failure in Lampard's area.

While Michael Carrick demonstrated his ability with a few passes he was neither a consistent playmaker nor a barrier to the opposition. Stewart Downing, with one or two exceptions, caused Macedonia no worries before his inevitable substitution.

Too often for McClaren's comfort, the speed and power of Ledley King were essential to prevent the visitors breaking through. The quick substitute Aco Stojkov did get beyond the back four in the 56th minute but could not beat Paul Robinson from an angle.

England found opportunities of their own. Gerrard hit the bar, Gary Neville missed a close-range chance and Jane Nikoloski had to pull off saves from Lampard, Peter Crouch and the muted Wayne Rooney.

The real nature of the afternoon was heard in Katanec's quiet reaction to the result. "I knew before the game they would lack ideas," he said. "They had no aggression." It exasperated Katanec, too, that the gaps in McClaren's defence generally went unexploited.

An opponent's criticism will only cause England superficial wounds when their line-up has been hurt in more severe ways. Out of form as Gerrard was, his suspension from Wednesday's match is disruptive when Owen Hargreaves is unavailable.

It will be reassuring for McClaren if Rio Ferdinand recovers from the back spasm that ruled him out at the weekend. The wider anxieties for the manager are associated with England's pedestrian play. It disturbed him England had not been dynamic from the start, yet momentum was absent because the team had no alternative approach. England can be dull when Rooney is subdued. Crouch should have done better than send a free header wide from a King cross in stoppage time.

The manager was powerless to alter the course of the game and he could not stop unwelcome memories from seeping back. This was all too obviously the same band, more or less, who had confirmed at the World Cup they do not deserve to be ranked among the elite.

The England personnel are of uneven quality and while Downing has a narrow span of talents he has until now started every match under McClaren because there is no natural rival if a conventional left-winger is deemed essential. It was predictable the new manager would come up against the same limitations Sven-Goran Eriksson could not transcend, but few believed he would have that experience against Macedonia.