McClaren planning to risk Gerrard

SoccerSteve McClaren is warming up for Saturday's struggle against Israel by committing himself to polite yet unflinching conflict with Liverpool. The England manager is more intent than ever on fielding Steven Gerrard in the Euro 2008 qualifier at Wembley despite the midfielder's fractured toe.

"I have to do whatever I can to get the best players out there," he said. "That is what I shall do."

The disagreement with Liverpool has been developing since Friday when the club's manager, Rafael Benitez, declared his opposition to any special measures being used to get Gerrard on to the field.

"We do not want Steven to play for England with any painkilling injections," he said then.

"We did that in the game against Chelsea and it took four days for him to recover enough to be able to return to training."

Benitez's misgivings about the midfielder's fitness were endorsed last night by a leading specialist sports doctors.

Dr Mike Bundy, who has worked with UK Athletics and the England rugby team, believes Gerrard will be taking a "long-term risk" if he has an anaesthetic to play.

The same warning applies to John Terry who, like Gerrard, has been in discomfort because of a broken toe and plans to have an injection to numb the pain.

Bundy said he can understand the Liverpool manager's concerns.

"It's a short-term gain for a long-term risk," says Bundy, of the Pure Sports Medicine clinic in London.

"The worst-case scenario is that a footballer has a local anaesthetic and makes the injury much worse by playing on it. The best is that he plays and nothing happens. But that's the risk you take."

"Some players might think, 'Great, I don't feel any pain, I can run okay, kick the ball and I feel fine.' But, potentially, if the toe is made numb and then re-injured - if someone stamps on the fracture, for example - that could make it far worse.

However the prospect of losing Gerrard for next Wednesday's match with Russia seems to be no deterrent to McClaren.

Beating Israel is the immediate priority and the England manager may be hoping he could then cope without Gerrard, now that hopes have risen of Frank Lampard being available against the Russians.

The Chelsea midfielder reported for England duty on Monday, bringing scans showing the injury to his left thigh to be less serious than had been supposed, and he was assessed before going home.

"When we said he might have a chance of playing in the second game he was delighted with that," McClaren reported.

Lampard will probably return to the squad at the weekend.

In the meantime McClaren is "very, very confident" that Gerrard will feature against Israel because "he has a great determination to play in this game. If he possibly can he will be out there."

Gerrard missed training yesterday but told watching England fans: "I'm fine."

It is as if the player, McClaren and the English nation at large can together outvote Benitez.

"He wants to play, I want him to play, the team does, the fans do," said the England manager. "The whole country does."

McClaren must recognise that the situation has echoes of the 2006 World Cup in which Wayne Rooney returned early from a broken metatarsal, to the anger of Manchester United.

The England manager will maintain the dialogue with Liverpool and their medical team over Gerrard, promising "to do nothing that will put the player at risk".

Nonetheless, McClaren sees nothing amiss in giving the midfielder a painkilling injection.

Midfield is a tender spot for the manager. Owen Hargreaves restricted himself to the gym yesterday and, because of tendinitis, has not played two games in quick succession for United, yet England would like to present him with that workload.

"He is one of the fittest guys I have seen in football," McClaren said, without actually addressing the specifics of Hargreaves's current condition.

It was noticeable, however, that Aston Villa's Gareth Barry was a central midfielder in England's training match and even scored a goal. McClaren needs as many options as possible.

In the practice game Michael Owen was partnered with Andrew Johnson for a longer period than he was with the recalled Emile Heskey. Wigan's striker will hope to start on Saturday and so too, it would appear, should Portsmouth goalkeeper David James.

He, and not Paul Robinson, was stationed behind what would have been the obvious back four at London Colney had John Terry, who felt slightly ill, not handed over his centre-half spot to Wes Brown.

The training game did have its unorthodox aspects, with Peter Crouch as a stylish midfielder, but that is a double irrelevance because he is a forward who is suspended for the Israel game.

McClaren, indeed, used one of Crouch's prior absences to explain why Heskey was being reinstated, more than three years after his last cap. England, he believes, suffered from the absence of a target man in the 0-0 draw in Israel in March. Heskey, at least, might act as a focal point.

"We didn't have a plan B," McClaren said of that occasion. England are fourth in Group E but the manager remains bullish. "It's in our hands, it's up to us. We should relish the challenge."