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ENGLAND v RUSSIA - TERRY BACKS McCLAREN APPROACH
Captain John Terry firmly believes the England players are now beginning to reap the benefits of Steve McClaren's "hands-on" approach.
England produced arguably the most impressive display of McClaren's reign in defeating Israel 3-0 at Wembley on Saturday to spark life back into what had been a flagging Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.
The visit of Russia - coached by one-time England target Guus Hiddink - on Wednesday night will, of course, present a much sterner test.
Confidence in the England camp, though, is high they can produce another outstanding display.
Midfielder Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool captain, feels the current crop of international players are the strongest he has known.
Chelsea defender Terry, 26, is in no doubt McClaren - who worked under former head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson - deserves a great deal of credit for how he has helped the squad believe in their own ability.
"There are little similarities between Steve and [Chelsea manager Jose] Mourinho. They like to get involved in training and do it all themselves," said Terry, who has won the Premier League twice under the Portuguese coach.
"That is a big part because I don't think it works too well when the manager stands on the side and gets someone else to do it."
Terry continued: "When the manager is hands on himself like Steve, then the manager holds his hands up if anything goes wrong.
"They say it is them who made the mistake because they have been making their decisions all week.
"When they are out there all week you get the camaraderie, you get a nice buzz and togetherness.
"Steve's team meetings are very enthusiastic. His training sessions are very good, very sharp and very well organised.
"We don't just come away and do the same stuff over and over again. He varies it very well and has got many qualities."
Terry, though, knows ultimately it will come down to the players to ensure another positive result in front of a full house at Wembley tomorrow night.
He reflected: "In our group we are the best team, it is as simple as that really.
"However, the position in the group does not say that at the minute and we can't go into games because we have got the players expecting to win. We have to earn the right.
"There are so many games in this group and it is getting to the crunch, so it is vital we don't think 'we've played well at the weekend so we are all right for the next few months'.
"We realise that we need to put on this level of performance and consistency over the next four games."
Terry added: "We can't think 'if we draw, Israel could still go and beat Croatia' - we have to worry about ourselves.
"It would be a great three points to gain on Russia tomorrow night and that's all we have to think about.
"If we do what we can and get the results we need then everyone else can do the worrying."
Terry feels England could well do with adopting an approach similar to that many of them have in domestic action to make sure they get the result needed against what is expected to be an organised Russian side tomorrow.
"Mourinho would say stop them playing and get in their faces a little bit in the first 10 or 15 minutes," he said.
"When you go away to the likes of Everton they are going to try and do exactly the same to you.
"We have to fight for it and work hard for it."
Terry added: "When you are playing against a very good side, like Man United for instance, if you give them time to play there are so many world-class players in their team that they will find a pass to hurt you or create something from nothing.
"But if you get in amongst them and get in their faces a little bit and put them under pressure they make mistakes.
"We did that against Israel, put them right under pressure, didn't let them play at all, didn't give them any time on the ball.
"It rushes them into a decision that maybe they wouldn't have chosen if they had a bit more time on the ball.
"Russia are technically very good and very good on the ball, but if we can do that against them, then we can stop Russia from playing."
By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.
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