McClaren opts for Hargreaves to anchor England's midfield

MANCHESTER, England, Aug 15 (Reuters) Steve McClaren is ready to make Owen Hargreaves the linchpin of his England team in a bid to get the best out of high-profile midfielders Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.

Hargreaves has been named in the England midfield to face Greece in a friendly at Old Trafford tomorrow, with Liverpool captain Gerrard playing on the right to make way for him.

The Bayern Munich player will take up a holding role in the centre of midfield behind Lampard, with Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing providing balance on the left.

It is the first indication that the new England coach, who dropped David Beckham from his squad, is ready to tackle the Gerrard-Lampard problem head on.

The pair have been described as two of the best attacking midfielders in the world when playing for their clubs but have struggled to reproduce that form when playing together for England.

Chelsea's Lampard, in particular, had a disappointing World Cup with many critics suggesting the two are too similar in style to form an effective partnership. But with Hargreaves impressive in a holding role in Germany and Beckham's absence freeing up the right, the team has been tweaked in an attempt to accommodate both their talents.

McClaren, speaking at a news conference at Old Trafford, said: ''The key thing that came out of the World Cup, and everybody will agree because he was voted England's player of the tournament, was the emergence of Owen Hargreaves.

''We've always talked about having somebody in that midfield who can sit and hold - and at the end of the day it's a natural role for Owen. The emergence of Owen has just changed things a little bit. It's improved us and made us aware of the situation.

NEW SYSTEM ''The new system is something which I've looked at and something I can see could possibly work. It's about blend and balance, hopefully we'll get the cohesion flowing.'' McClaren settled on his plan for Gerrard and Lampard after lengthy talks with Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who has often played his captain on the right.

''It's a system which I'm looking towards but it's just one of two or three I hope to look at over the next couple of years,'' said McClaren, who helped develop Downing, a natural left-footer, while in charge at Middlesbrough.

''I like width on the left and I like a narrow midfield.

Stevie has played on the right side a lot of times for Liverpool and scored 23 goals last season.

''I had a very good chat with Rafa Benitez last week, talking about Steve and his role at Liverpool and I'm really just trying to transfer that over into the England team.'' McClaren has stamped his authority on the England set-up by dropping Beckham, naming John Terry as captain and recalling Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe, who was left out of the World Cup squad by Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Defoe will start up front alongside Peter Crouch after West Ham United striker Dean Ashton broke an ankle in training today to end his hopes of a debut.

''That's very unfortunate, it's clouded the morning,'' said McClaren. ''It's always sad to see any player getting injured on the training field and especially Dean who had just come into the squad and was looking forward to his opportunity.'' REUTERS DH RAI1955