McClaren's not afraid of change

Steve McClaren has warned his players to expect changes in "personnel" and a fresh "approach" during the five months ahead of England's next Euro 2008 qualifier.

McClaren's team have two friendly games before they return to competitive action with a trip to Israel in March.

The England manager said: "With my coaches, I have to find out the reasons why we lost and put them right. We will use the two friendlies effectively and maybe our approach will be different in some respects. The personnel will maybe have to be different."

Holland are lined up in Amsterdam, next month, and England will arrange another friendly at home in February.

McClaren will use this time to scrutinise the players in and around his squad and analyse the way the team prepares for matches.

England, beaten 2-0 in Croatia on Wednesday, must take big strides forward if they are to finish in one of the two qualification places at the top of Group E.

They are already off the pace, after dropping five points from their last two games, and face daunting trips to both Israel and Russia next year.

But McClaren insists: "I think we can become a side which achieves things.

"We have to use the friendlies and really get into individuals and the squad, get into what wins and what will win, so that when we get to the qualification games in five months, the approach is different.

"We have learned from all the experiences in the last four games and will make sure we are going in the right direction."