Allardyce praise for England

The Newcastle manager, who was a candidate for the job following Sven-Goran Eriksson's departure, expressed his pleasure at the 3-0 victories over Israel and Russia inside five days which took much of the weight off the beleaguered McClaren's shoulders.

Allardyce said: "Let's face it, the poor lad gets slaughtered for the slightest slip-up, so I'm really pleased he can go into this particular break and feel very, very satisfied with what he has achieved. That's not the players, that's Steve McClaren and his backroom staff, I am really, really pleased for them."

The United boss added: "And I am pleased for the players because they are really good players, but they have massive amounts of pressure heaped upon them from the media point of view, and I think that is one of the reasons why they under-achieve sometimes.

"But now, they are right there and they are in a great position. They have had two great wins at Wembley, so they have put that behind them now with two very, very comfortable performances."

Allardyce, who now has McClaren's assistant Steve Round on his coaching staff at St James' Park, also praised unlikely heroes Emile Heskey and Gareth Barry, who played major roles in both games.

He said: "A lot of injured players were not available for that squad and it was a real bonus for Steve, the Emile Heskey performance and Gareth Barry, who have not been there for some time. It's always nice to see players like that come in and do exceptionally well."