Had this article sent to me, thought some people might find it interesting.
Steve McClaren is a keen advocate of statistics, so it seems appropriate to begin with one: the addition of Kieran Richardson to the England squad means that 100% of the men who embarrassed their country against Croatia and Macedonia have been picked for the very next game.
In many cases it's perfectly understandable. Frank Lampard hasn't performed for England in six months, but has been back to something approaching his best for Chelsea in recent weeks (no-one without red-tinted glasses could argue that Steven Gerrard should take his place in central midfield on Wednesday).
Even Jermaine Jenas, before he was ruled out, has shown glimpses this season to suggest he isn't a complete waste of space on a football pitch.
No, while we can criticise McClaren for his abject failure to do as he said he would and shake up the England squad, a case (however poor - and it would be very, very poor for some of them) can be made for most of the players he has included.
It is a measure of Richardson's awfulness that he can't be included in that list.
Even looking at the stats - McClaren's usual way of defending the dross he selects - does the Manchester United reserves winger no favours. An absolutely-not-surprising-in-any-way zero goals and zero assists are the sum total of Richardson's first-team contribution this season. It's not surprising he hasn't featured in the Premiership since he was hauled off 57 minutes into United's draw with Reading on September 23.
Certainly Richardson's record looks nothing short of pathetic in comparison to Gareth Barry, who has four Premiership goals, one goal of the month trophy and a lofty position as the Premiership's best player (according to the Actim Index and the OPTA stats that of which McClaren is such a big fan) to his name so far this season.
Barry did, admittedly, miss out on Villa's win on Saturday with a back injury, but McClaren's failure to even mention him in passing shows how far the Villa skipper is from the Ted Bovis lookalike's thoughts. Just as he was from Sven's.
There was totally unfounded speculation in F365 Towers that Barry had ensured he wouldn't feature under Eriksson by shagging Nancy Dell'Olio. His exclusion so far under McClaren is more likely due to his club manager - McClaren knows full well that most of the country thinks Martin O'Neill should have his job, and he doesn't want to remind anyone just how well the Northern Irishman is doing by picking the man he made club captain.
If that sounds silly, consider the fact that Aston Villa are in fourth place with a squad of mainly English players, and yet don't have anyone in the England squad. It might not be suspicious as yet, but just keep an eye on it over the next season or so if Villa continue to improve.
Conspiracy theories aside, though, Kieran Richardson is in the squad for one reason and one reason only - he plays (in the very loosest sense of the word) for Manchester United.
The same goes for Wes Brown. Pre-empting a torrent of abuse from United fans, Brown is a fine defender, but he last completed 90 Premiership minutes for the Red Devils on September 17, and he won't do it many more times this season.
Shaun Wright-Phillips has at least played three times for Chelsea in the last month - but he hasn't featured for more than 28 minutes in any of those Premiership games.
McClaren's bias towards players from the Big Four (and particularly Manchester United) would be understandable if the players in question were playing in the Champions League, but they aren't. They aren't even playing in the Premiership.
Matt Taylor at Pompey has played in every game at either left back or on the left wing, and done a very good job for a team who are still in the top six. He should be in ahead of Richardson. Joleon Lescott has been ever-present and ever-impressive for Everton (now in seventh). He should be in ahead of Brown. And, for that matter, ahead of Jamie Carragher, whose performances for Liverpool this season have been about as useful as French windows on a submarine.
Wayne Bridge is a quality player - as good as Ashley Cole in my opinion - but the fact is that he is barely playing first-team football. Leighton Baines, on the other hand, has played every minute for Wigan - who have won four on the bounce - as well as performing admirably for the Under-21s. Yes, for anyone struggling to keep up, that's the Under-21s McClaren promised to look to after his side's last shambolic performance.
Ashley Young has been one of the most impressive players in the Premiership this season, on both wings as well as up front, but he won't get close to McClaren's squad playing for Watford. Joey Barton (who completely outclassed Scott Parker on Saturday), David Bentley, Kevin Nolan, James Milner...the list goes on.
It almost seems cruel to pick on McClaren's weaknesses, number one of which is 'not being a very good manager'. After all, you can't blame him for taking the job. I'd take it if it was offered to me, and I'd mess it up too (although not, I suspect, as badly as we'll all look back and say McClaren did in a few years' time).
Still, he has the job, and it's up to him to prove he's worthy of it. He won't, of course, but he could help himself out no end by sticking to his word and trying something new while he has the chance. This is a friendly against a good side. It's the perfect time to try something different, and he's wasted it.
McClaren himself admitted this week that "England's blend and balance has always been, for me, the enigma and may continue to be, especially in that midfield area".
Here's a clue, Steve. You don't solve enigmas by doing the same thing over and over again and hoping it magically starts to work.
Adam Fraser
Fleet Street has accused a 'nuts' Steve McClaren of 'cracking up' under the pressure after the England boss claimed the press were attempting to divide him from his players and assistant Terry Venables.
If defeat in Croatia marked the end of McClaren's honeymoon period then a remarkably bad-tempered press conference in Amsterdam has seen the declaration of open warfare between the Yorkshireman and the press.
The Sun claimed that McClaren had 'cracked up' while the back page of Wednesday morning's Daily Mirror simply leads with a banner headline of 'Nuts' before asking 'What The Hell Is Going On With England?' The Daily Mail scathingly described McClaren as 'sounding like Alan Partridge'.
Despite the bevy of PR consultants available to the England manager ahead of Tuesday's press briefing, McClaren appeared totally unprepared for a hostile line of enquiry following the debacle of Zagreb.
The press have not been able to interrogate McClaren since the Euro 2008 qualifier defeat and were further incensed when he indicated he would prefer to discuss the Three Lions' "exciting future".
As the press conference descended into a niggly exchange of views, a clearly rattled McClaren reacted furiously when it was suggested that he and Terry Venables were at odds over the reason for Stewart Downing's omission in Zagreb.
While McClaren had claimed that the Boro winger was dropped for tactical reasons, Venables wrote in a newspaper column that he was omitted because media criticism had "destroyed" his confidence.
"It was a private matter between myself and Downing," McClaren eventually responded. "We've drawn a line under it.
"He knows me and I know him. We've worked together for five years now. We move on and that's why I included him in the squad. The Croatia game is gone."
Asked if he had read Venables' piece in the News of the World, a testy McClaren replied: "Some newspapers I read and some I don't. I don't have to answer every column. I didn't read that. I can't comment on something I've not read.
"But I wasn't embarrassed by it. If that's the question, then no I wasn't.
"I'm answering no more questions on Stewart Downing. Why are you trying to separate the players and myself or even the staff. That's ridiculous.
"We've got a game tomorrow and we shouldn't be sat here talking about problems and trying to divide."
The breakdown in relations between McClaren and the press barely four months after his appointment is all the more remarkable given his attempts to woo the Fourth Estate.
Immediately after this summer's World Cup, McClaren is known to have held clandestine press briefings in which he castigated Sven-Goran Eriksson for selecting Theo Walcott. In a further act of goodwill, he then invited a selected group of journalists for a series of lunch engagements.
Judging by Wednesday's backpages, those same journalists have now decided to bite hand that fed them.
What The Papers Said About McClaren's Press Performance
'Steve McClaren cracked for the first time as England boss last night - as he blasted critics of his Euro flops. Macca reacted angrily to the suggestion he and assistant Terry Venables were at odds over the reason why Stewart Downing was axed from the European Championship qualifying defeat in Croatia' - The Sun.
'The affair, which surely need not have been allowed to seem so significant, has revealed McClaren struggling to cope with the scrutiny that many predecessors in the post, including Venables, have weathered' - The Guardian.
'Clearly rattled, a contrast to the man who usually appears heavily scripted for his public utterances, McClaren then came out fighting in defence of his team and particularly Robinson' - The Daily Telegraph.
'He walked into the conference room with that trademark smile and remained on the charm offensive when he then announced his team. But what then followed was something he did not anticipate. Something that had him squirming in his seat and snapping at his audience....McClaren had no idea how to respond, his face contorting as his mind stumbled through a spectrum of emotions...Stunned at first, he then became increasingly uncomfortable...As McClaren is rapidly discovering, the job he took on last summer is as much about media management as managing the England team and in the last six weeks he has not proved terribly proficient at either' - The Daily Mail.
