England divided again as McClaren tries to fit Beckham into misfiring midfield

England's training session at London Colney was a practice game of two halves — one spent with McClaren looking at a 4-5-1 formation that had Ledley King deployed as a holding midfielder and Michael Owen as a lone striker and one that focused on a good old- fashioned 4-4-2.

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Interestingly, Wes Brown was given the nod at right back. After Frank Lampard's mysterious omission from the side who beat Andorra in March, the Chelsea midfielder must have been relieved to find himself in both teams.

To the left of King in one and to the left of Steven Gerrard, as one half of a midfield pairing, in the other.

For McClaren, the next few days represent a delicate balancing act.

The serious business comes a week today in Estonia — fail to win there and he will almost certainly be out of a job — but a crushing loss to Brazil at Wembley this Friday needs to be avoided. Not least because of the abuse he received from supporters in Barcelona. And there has been disagreement within his own camp over the recall of Beckham. It was not a decision which met with the approval of Terry Venables, as McClaren all but conceded, but that was not enough to deny the 32-year-old Real Madrid midfielder a summons.

"This is my decision and I stand or fall by it," said McClaren. "I listen to the advice. Terry has been in this position and knows it and understands it. Everyone is around the table but ultimately I've got to make that decision.

"I've got to win football matches, end of story. I've got to win next week in Estonia, everybody knows that."

As McClaren admitted on Tuesday, the matches he faces in the next few days may demand slightly different approaches. "There's always got to be a plan B," he said.

"You might have to play a three in midfield when faced with a threat down the middle — a Ronaldinho or a Kaka. You might need a player like Claude Makelele in there. You have to think of ways of coping with it."

Luck, of course, is not with McClaren at the moment. Owen Hargreaves, who would have been ideal for Brazil, is once again missing with injury.

If McClaren opts for King in the role, and his options are limited, he will do so in spite of Tuesday's session.

The players did not look particularly comfortable with the system, even if the idea of facing Brazil with the midfield quartet who performed so poorly at the last World Cup could amount to professional suicide for McClaren. Against an Estonia side who have conceded 10 goals without scoring one in reply in five European Championship qualifying encounters, reuniting Lampard and Gerrard should not be too major a problem.

But send out a side that stumbles badly against Brazil in front of 90,000 expectant England supporters, as well as a twitchy, potentially trigger happy Football Association, and McClaren will take his squad to Tallinn facing fresh accusations.

In particular, his employers might want to ask him how he thinks he has taken the England team forward after almost 10 months in charge.

How, in recalling Beckham and once again asking Lampard and Gerrard to perform the midfield defensive duties between them, has he done anything to lift England out of their World Cup malaise?

McClaren quite rightly pointed to the injury plagued Aaron Lennon's failure to build on his hugely promising performances in Germany, and the fact that no sooner is Owen back than Wayne Rooney is suspended and Rio Ferdinand is now missing with a groin problem.

But he struggled to convince those present on Tuesday that Lampard and Gerrard could suddenly gel as a partnership.

"We've had this discussion before," he said. "Of course it can work. They once played 10 games together in the centre of midfield and they won seven, drew two and lost one in qualifiers and World Cups. That proves they can play together."

Yet it will be a team that lacks the "pace" McClaren promised to inject when he first took over, as well as the balance that was missing during Sven Goran Eriksson's final matches.

More players dropped out on Tuesday — the injured Michael Dawson joined Rooney, Ferdinand, Lennon, Ashley Cole and Gary Neville on the missing list — but McClaren tried to be positive, saying: "I wouldn't say we're going backwards. I would say we're hoping to progress and give ourselves an opportunity to do that in the future.

"Aaron Lennon has great potential. He is still very young. He made a great impact in the World Cup. But how long has David Beckham been ever-present for England on the right-hand side? I think it's a big void to fill and we've got potential.

"We've got potential in Aaron Lennon, in Shaun Wright-Phillips, in David Bentley, in people coming through. Ashley Young, Theo Walcott. But that's all they are — potential — and you have to try to give them experience and try to win matches.

"The only thing that will help get me support from the media and the supporters is to win football matches. That's why I've brought David Beckham back. It's not for the fans, it's not for you, not for anybody but the squad."

He sounded convincing, but a convincing performance is what he needs now.