Steve McLaren has made an impressive start as England’s new manager. The 4-0 rout of Greece in the other week’s friendly showed a different style for the side. The team did an excellent job of controlling tempo and possession during the game. McLaren noted that when you have possession you can either rest or mount a counter attack. You have to get the proper balance between the two, and England did just that against Greece. It was almost a payback for the disaster against Portugal in the World Cup, when Portugal (read Ronaldo) retained the ball for long periods of the game – no doubt one of the contributing reasons for Rooney’s frustration and red card. A proper assessment of McLaren’s success cannot be made until more internationals are played, and of course until England have definitely qualified for Euro 2008. There will be much tougher games along the way in the future. But it’s encouraging to read some of the words that McLaren uses, such as passion and possession. Hopefully the disappointment of the World cup exit will be in the players’ minds when they go against further European opposition. But the new era is off to go a good start. And Toon fans are thankful that Scott Parker’s talent have finally been recognised by his calling-up to the squad for the next series of internationals, beginning with the Macedonia match.