McClaren: 'We looked a cohesive team. It bodes well'
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Your support makes all the difference.Steve McClaren, buoyed by an emphatic start to his international reign, insisted that England had set the standard for their European Championship qualifying campaign with their convincing victory over Greece last night.
"I couldn't have wished for a better start," McClaren said. "The players have taken a lot of information on board in the three days we have had them and delivered a performance in the first half that we need to produce consistently. They have set the standard, now we are looking for sustainability and consistency."
The former Middlesbrough manager addressed almost every criticism that had been levelled at England's performances at the World Cup in his post-match analysis of this defeat of the European champions, a verdict that also provided an insight into his reasons for ending the former captain David Beckham's international career.
"We counter-attacked with pace, we opened up and used width at the right times," McClaren said. "The most pleasing thing for me was that, in possession, we looked like a cohesive team. It bodes well.
"For three days we have stressed that possession is the key at this level. It doesn't win you matches, but it helps you control the game and you need that in international football. We had great movement and passing, the defenders came out, but we dominated midfield and that's why we won the game. We had great balance, Owen Hargreaves was phenomenal and set the standard for the others to follow. It was not just his attitude but his whole game and [Steven] Gerrard and [Frank] Lampard followed."
A crowd of 45,864 was at Old Trafford to witness the start of McClaren's reign, meaning there were almost 31,000 empty seats. The England manager said: "People are maybe disappointed about the crowd but you have to remember that this is Old Trafford in August and that will be the highest attendance anywhere in Europe tonight. It shows the phenomenal support we have and we have to encourage that with our performances.
"It was a very proud night for me. I've been involved in the set-up for a while but this was different, exciting and challenging. We have got a big challenge ahead of us and we need to produce performances like that consistently."
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