England need more than defending to overcome Croatia

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) England travel to Croatia for the first of four successive away Euro qualifiers knowing that their much-vaunted clean sheet record will count for nothing unless they can start penetrating at the other end.

Saturday's goalless draw against Macedonia was their ninth clean sheet in 10 games -- the 2-2 World Cup group stage draw with Sweden the only blip.

Another good defensive display will be needed in Zagreb against a Croatian team who thrashed Andorra 7-0 on Saturday and who have not lost a competitive game at home for 12 years.

However, as so often with England, accentuating the positives merely papers over the cracks that have been evident for a long time despite the presence of supposed world class players in midfield and attack.

England's World Cup campaign was generally dire and they were somewhat fortunate to escape from Skopje with a 1-0 win from their away Macedonia qualifier last month.

Yet going into last Saturday's match, buoyed by somehow being rated the world's fourth-best team by FIFA and big wins over Greece in a friendly and Andorra in their first qualifier, new coach Steve McClaren and his senior players had conveniently forgotten what heavy weather they made of the likes of Trinidad&Tobago, Paraguay and Ecuador in the World Cup.

Now, without suspended midfielder Steven Gerrard, they have to quickly find a way of controlling midfield and creating the chances that will give them the chance to come away from Zagreb with the win that restores full control of the group.

REALITY CHECK ''It was about basics, passing the ball, movement, intensity and tempo and in some respects we didn't have that,'' McClaren said after Saturday's draw.

''It's a reality check for everybody. We know we can perform better than that. We'll find the reasons, put them right and make sure we are better on Wednesday.'' Shaun Wright-Phillips, a lively late substitute on Saturday, could start in place of Gerrard while in defence Rio Ferdinand is expected to return after missing the Macedonia game with a back problem.

McClaren is still talking about experimenting with a 3-5-2 formation but there is little the coach can do about his pivotal problem, the sluggish form of Wayne Rooney, other than wait and hope for his most potent goal threat to rediscover his touch.

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic says he still considers the Manchester United striker as the main danger but says there are problems in the England side his team can exploit.

''He is such a good player, he always the biggest threat for the opponent whoever he is playing for,'' Bilic said.

The coach, well experienced in the English game from his playing days in the Premier League, said the problems were elsewhere.

''I am not exactly going to tell you what these weaknesses are but, in general, they have great individual players - only in a situation like the World Cup they didn't play as a team,'' he told the BBC.

''That is what they are missing and lacking - and I still think they do not play like a team.'' ''With a full stadium behind us we have a really good chance.'' Bilic will again be without key attacking midfielder Darijo Srna, who also missed the Andorra game with a muscle problem, but will have the services of Mladen Petric, who scored four against the group's makeweights.

England top the group with seven points from three games, the same tally as Israel. Croatia have four from two having drawn their opener 0-0 in Russia.

REUTERS PDS KN1825