McClaren and Heskey make critics eat their words...

I love it when the media are left choking on their collective bile when it comes to back-tracking over a manager or player who've they've been busily crucifying following a run of indifferent results or performances.

One such case is that of England manager Steve McClaren. Here we have a manager who the media supported when he replaced Sven Goran Eriksson. The Swede was eventually eased out of his cosy chair by the News of the World in that disgraceful fake Sheik sting. Let us not forget that the press had been trying to oust Sven over a number of years, the Sheik episode was by no means an isolated incident. Every aspect of Sven's life was delved into by the gutter press in a bid to get him out of a job.

Events post Sven have been all too predictable. The new manager was supported by the media, but following the usual and all too often brief honeymoon period, and a spell of indifferent performances by the Three Lions, the media, led by the tabloid press were preparing to write McClaren's obituary.

The manager had two games in which to save himself, at least that was the media line. We were told that this week's results against Israel and Russia would decide McClaren's England future. No doubt to the dismay of the manager's many media detractors, as we know England won both games comfortably.

It's true to say that McClaren has somewhat stumbled upon the team which won so well this week, it is also fair to ask questions about what might happen when the likes of Beckham, Hargreaves and Lampard are fit. Gareth Barry in particular has played well.

However, the media have totally missed one glaring point about England when they've been busily slagging off McClaren, that is that since Shearer retired they've not had an out and out target man. As we know, the often much maligned Emile Heskey was brought back into the squad, again largely due to injuries and suspensions and here again the manager has been somewhat lucky.

As we know Heskey has been something of a revelation giving two excellent performances. But what has happened in the last two games, only backs up the point that I've been making for two years, that is you can forget about all of the other issues concerning Beckham and Lampard et al. England need a target man, Rooney and Owen while being very good players in their own right are too similar in many ways.

Leading up to the games this week, the likes of Martin Samuel in The Times, was questioning why England couldn't be more flexible regarding their formation. Guus Hiddink we were told is a man who often changes his formation, which is true and having sat through both games this week and having enjoyed then too for a change, I found myself thinking that if Russia also had a target man they might have got something out of the game at Wembley last night.

In the end it's all about players and partnerships, it isn't just about formations. Heskey and Owen link up well, on the evidence of the last two games, better than any other current options up front.

McClaren should be given a huge amount of credit for bringing back Heskey - let's be honest - when we heard news of his recall, many said McClaren is taking the ****.

The media can write what they like, but they need to recognise their own collective limitations. After all, if you cannot see that England's main problem has been the lack of a genuine number nine, then you really should not be questioning any manager.

Heskey isn't the long term answer to solving England's woes, but his performances have given the hacks and the know-nothing back-stabbers a rather large clue about how to go about solving them in the longer term.