Mac won't toe Rafa's line on Gerrard

Benitez has already made his feelings clear about Gerrard's fractured toe. "We do not want Steven to play for England with any pain-killing injections," said the Liverpool manager on Friday. "We did that for the Chelsea game and it took four or five days for him to recover enough to even train again."

But McClaren quite rightly sees the Israel game at Wembley as one England must win and the under-pressure coach said he will do what is right for the national team and not what suits Liverpool.

"He played with an injection against Chelsea a few weeks ago and we will take whatever action is necessary to get him on that field," said a bullish McClaren. "We will take Liverpool into consideration, speak to Rafa and the medical team."

But if Benitez says "no" to an injection? "We will cross that bridge when we come to it," he added.

FIFA rules give the power to McClaren but he said he would not gamble on Gerrard if the FA's medical team warned that the midfielder was in danger of suffering a long-term injury.

"We won't take unnecessary risks but I have to do whatever I can to get the best players out there," said McClaren. "I'm confident Stevie will be with us on Saturday for what is a very important game. He wants to play, I want him to play, the team wants him to play. The whole country does."

While McClaren acknowledged he could lose Gerrard for the Russia game, he hopes to have Frank Lampard back from a thigh injury by then.

Lampard was sent home yesterday and was asked to return on Saturday.

McClaren said: "The injury is not as serious as first thought and there's a 50-50 chance he may be ready next week."

John Terry and Owen Hargreaves missed training yesterday but are expected to take part today.