IF England fail to qualify for next summer's European Championships then the players should carry the can - not Steve McClaren.

In my opinion, sacking McClaren would achieve very little, other than leave us right back at square one.

It's not the manager's fault England go into the final round of qualifiers having to rely on Israel to get them out of the mire.

You can talk about tactics and team selection until you're blue in the face but, at the end of the day, whatever England side McClaren ultimately puts out should be good enough to finish in the top two in Group E.

The fact we are struggling to do that is firmly down to the players, who have turned in far too many sub-standard performances since the qualifying campaign began last year.

The rot set in when we drew 0-0 at home to Macedonia and we've been trying to play catch-up ever since.

I think some of the players are guilty of believing their own hype; they swallowed all that guff about them being the golden generation' before the last World Cup and they now believe they are better than they actually are.

I also think the British public are guilty of believing the England team is actually better than it is.

If you look through the squad, it's true we've got some genuine world class players, who would grace any international team on the planet.

But there are also areas of the team where we are suffering from a dearth of talent.

If Michael Owen broke his leg tomorrow, can you name me another natural goal-poacher who could come in and fill his shoes?

And whatever happened to England's reputation for producing the best goalkeepers in the world?

At the moment, Paul Robinson has only got the shirt because there's no credible alternative.

Having said all that, I still believe we'll qualify for the Euro 2008 finals because I believe Israel will make life a lot tougher than most people think for Russia in Tel Aviv tomorrow.

The Israelis are a proud nation and they're never easy to beat on home soil, as England have already discovered to their cost.

So don't give up all hope just yet - a miracle might still be possible.

But even if we do make the Euros, I hope some of the players will look back on this qualifying campaign as a major wake-up call.