McClaren already knew he would be without Wayne Rooney for the Euro 2008 Wembley double-header with Israel and Russia next month but further depressing news has landed on his door from either side of the Atlantic which threatens to rip the heart out of his midfield as well.

Already bedevilled by a lack of match practice among many of his senior players and a severe loss of form in others, McClaren awoke to discover Beckham had sustained suspected knee ligament damage in LA Galaxy's SuperLiga trophy final defeat to Pachuca which could rule him out for six weeks.

McClaren was still reeling from that blow when word filtered down from Merseyside that Gerrard is also a major doubt after effectively being ruled out of Liverpool's Premier League encounter with Derby on Saturday as the broken toe which forced him to miss last week's friendly defeat to Germany has still not healed properly.

"I have spoken to Steven and the news is not very positive," said Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez.

"The doctor will continue to help him. But it will be very difficult for him to play on Saturday."

Although Benitez has not mentioned England and Gerrard is known to be desperate to play for his country, Liverpool will not want to take any risks with their skipper, especially with the Champions League group stages commencing a week after the Russia clash.

Gerrard's name will almost certainly be in the squad McClaren will unveil tomorrow for a key five-day period from which four points are a minimum requirement if England are to retain a realistic hope of reaching next summer's Finals in Austria and Switzerland.

However, after all the debate over the wisdom of Beckham clocking up the air miles, it now appears the former skipper will not have to, with a scan due to confirm the extent of his injury tomorrow.

"Who knows? If the scan is not too bad, maybe I have a chance but at the moment it doesn't feel great," he said.

"We are calling it a ligament strain, which is an injury which normally takes four to six weeks to heal."

Given the abysmal fortunes he has endured lately, McClaren would do well to check outside his North Yorkshire home to see if he can find a black cat or two.

Certainly, it is difficult to imagine how McClaren could have encountered any more bad luck given Kieron Dyer is also out after sustaining a potentially season-ending double leg fracture at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday and Gary Neville is a virtually certain absentee as well.

Even if McClaren does not enjoy the success he craves over the next fortnight against two obdurate sides more than capable of getting a draw against any top side in the world, he is unlikely to cite injuries as an excuse.

But the stark truth is that it only takes half a dozen absentees for the England cupboard to look worryingly bare, a problem definitely not of McClaren's making but one which continually undermines his efforts to turn the Three Lions into a credible international force.

True, Owen Hargreaves has now launched his Manchester United career but not without experiencing an element of pain in his troublesome knee, which makes Sir Alex Ferguson dubious about exposing him twice in a week at present.

Michael Owen may have scored his first Newcastle goal since December 2005 last night but the man upon whom McClaren's scoring hopes are pinned against Israel, when Peter Crouch is suspended, must be still some way short of match sharpness after so long on the sidelines.

At least Owen knows where the goal is, a skill very few of his compatriots appear to share judging by the amazing statistic that only eight of the 89 goals scored in the Premier League so far this season have come from English strikers.

Birmingham's Cameron Jerome and Sunderland's Michael Chopra are the only English qualified players to have scored twice and anyone who suggested either man was capable of donning the England number nine shirt at present would be scoffed at.

Certainly neither will be among the names McClaren will announce tomorrow as he looks to edge Israel and Russia out of what appears to be a battle for runners-up spot in Group E behind Croatia.

Blackburn's David Bentley is now more of a probable than a possible given what has happened to Beckham and Dyer, ensuring his England Under-21 walkout has not proved too costly.

Sol Campbell should be included as well after missing out against Germany due to an ill-timed groin strain.