Decision time for McClaren after good performances from Barry and Heskey

Today's Papers / Top Dog / 10 September 2007 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

Betfair's Top Dog sniffs around the truth behind the latest tabloid tales.

Top Dog

Betfair's top dog sniffs around the truth behind the latest tabloid tales.

• Cruft's champion - Top stories that can dominate the news agenda
• Pedigree chum - Insights that tell you something you don't know
• Dog's dinner - Speculation, guesswork, or ideas that just don't come off.

Top Dog says:

Praise all round for Steve McClaren, but tempered with a good few warnings that the Russia game on Wednesday night will be a far sterner test. England's performance at Wembley has started a debate on whether to stick with the likes of Heskey and Barry or bring back Peter Crouch and Owen Hargreaves. McClaren will aim to keep his choice a secret, the job for the Fleet Street pack in the next two days is to find out which way the England boss has chosen to go.

Cruft's Champion:

Daily Star - Jill to keep England running - Well done the Daily Star as the only tabloid to remember that there's another England soccer team in action this week apart from the men. The Star's football pull out gives a whole page to the Women's World Cup complete with a full competition fixture diary - even though England are outsiders at 25, with the Americans favourites at 2.66.

Pedigree Chum:

Daily Mail - Barry's display left Gerrard in the shade - The Mail makes good use of star columnist Jamie Redknapp to heap praise on Gareth Barry and call for him to stay in the side on Wednesday night. Redknapp was another midfielder with what he calls "the wonderful habit to get the ball and give it to a team mate". England are now 1.58 to beat Russia but those odds probably depend on Steve McClaren keeping the same side.

The Sun/Daily Mirror - Loud and Proud - The Sun's Shaun Custis and Mirror's John Cross scooped the rest of the press pack by getting David Bentley to themselves somewhere in the bowels of Wembley. Blackburn's midfielder talks frankly about being booed by the crowd and his hopes for the future.

The Sun - Who do you think you are kidding Hiddink? - Former News of the World Sports Editor Mike Dunn has just taken over at The Sun and has brought star columnist Terry Venables with him. The England number two has a gentle reminder that Hiddink was in charge of Holland in Euro 96, when Venables side beat them 4-1! You can back a repeat of that at 13.5 (any unquoted score in the correct score betting).

Daily Mirror - Foxes wait for Davies - In form Alan Nixon correctly forecast on Friday that Emile Heskey would start for England, and now says Billy Davies is heading for another boardroom bust-up at Pride Park with the knowledge there would be a job waiting for him down the road at Leicester. Treat with suspicion, but Friday's Sun story that Derby had tapped up Paul Jewell was another bit of gossip that says there's trouble brewing at the Premier League's bottom club. Davies is now 4.2 the next manager out of a job, third favourite behind Sammy Lee and Martin Jol.

Dog' s dinner:

Daily Mirror - View from the bottom - The Mirror's weekly diary from Rushden's Andy Burgess on life in the Conference is meant to make witty, different reading - although there's nothing too witty about his claim "officials have once again excelled in appointing yet another inept, unskilled and incompetent referee to officiate our games". And he's also somehow completely forgotten to mention that Rushden's manager Garry Hill allegedly broke the nose of Salisbury assistant Tom Widdrington with a head butt at the end of Saturday's match. Oh dear.

Today's other stories:

The Sun - Rio Ferdinand sets a four wins target - Has to be Heskey - Robbo's glove affair Wales, Scotland and Ireland coverage - Leeds spotlight

Daily Express - I'll call the shots says McClaren - Heskey makes it click - Micah Richards spotlight - Only half a page of domestic football.

Daily Star - Mac Guns for Guus - Wright Way to Ease pressure - Robinson on his German nightmare - Gareth Barry interview - Home Nations coverage

Daily Mirror - Generation Xcellent - Now for the real test - Emile's on wheels - Stan Collymore column - two page focus on Leeds -

Daily Mail - Hiddink taunts FA - Micah Richards piece - Time to pick Lampard or Gerrard

Tags: Emile Heskey, Euro 2008 qualification, Rio Ferdinand, Steve McClaren