Having got wind of the thigh injury Lampard suffered in training with Chelsea, McClaren was enjoying lunch in his home village of Yarm when he took a call direct from the player confirming the news he did not want to hear.

Although Chelsea say it is too early to say exactly how long Lampard will be out, an absence of three to four weeks is already being talked about in some quarters, ending the midfielder's hopes of figuring in next week's double-header with Israel and Russia.

At a time when David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Kieron Dyer are already missing, the loss of Lampard, who scored his 13th international goal against Germany last week, is a massive setback to McClaren.

Barely an hour earlier, the England boss had spoken optimistically of his plan to shoehorn Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Owen Hargreaves into the same midfield.

Now those plans lie in ruins, which is only likely to strengthen McClaren's resolve to play Gerrard against Israel at Wembley next Saturday.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez has ruled Gerrard out of tomorrow's Barclays Premier League encounter with Derby as his influential skipper is yet to recover from the broken toe he sustained in the Champions League qualifier in Toulouse.

In an ideal world, Benitez would presumably prefer Gerrard not to risk aggravating the injury on England duty.

But, as he faces up to five qualifiers in a little over two months which will determine whether England qualify for next summer's European Championships, thereby keeping him in a job, McClaren is in no mood for compromise.

And his willingness to play hard-ball with Benitez has only been strengthened by the knowledge Gerrard is willing to put his body on the line like he did for his club against Chelsea recently, when he took a pain-killing injection to get on the field.

"Steven Gerrard is a strong enough character to indicate to me that he wants to play in the next two games for England," said McClaren.

"If there is a risk, we will liaise with Rafa but the decisions will be made by the player, ourselves and the medical team.

"When it comes to friendlies, there is a certain amount of flexibility but now we are into the qualifiers and the whole country wants us to be in Switzerland and Austria next summer.

"He did play against Chelsea a couple of weeks ago and I am very confident he will be available next week. He knows how important he is to our team. We need him."

The only obvious positive for McClaren from Lampard's absence is that his team is starting to pick itself.

With Aston Villa's Ashley Young named in a 26-man squad almost exclusively for experience, McClaren's only real dilemmas surround a strike partner for Michael Owen in the absence of suspended Liverpool man Peter Crouch, Beckham's replacement on the right and a straight choice between Paul Robinson and David James for the goalkeeping berth.

In the immediate aftermath of the loss to Germany, McClaren refused to condemn the blunder from Robinson which gifted Kevin Kuranyi the visitors' equaliser.

The England chief has had more time to assess the Tottenham keeper's performance and appears to have decided whether Robinson will lose his place to James; a move widely predicted but one he is refusing to confirm.

"The goal against Germany could have been avoided," he said.

"I was pleased to see Paul's reaction to the criticism. I will assess the situation over the weekend but I know roughly what I am going to do."

Although Beckham's absence would have allowed McClaren to shuffle his midfield around to accommodate Hargreaves, Gerrard and Lampard, it now appears likely England will revert to a more typical 4-4-2 formation, which could offer Shaun Wright-Phillips the chance of a recall or mean a debut to David Bentley.

The Blackburn youngster certainly impressed during May's B international with Albania at Turf Moor.

Since then, though, Bentley has blotted his copybook in big style, dramatically pulling out of England's European Under-21 Championship squad so late coach Stuart Pearce had no time to call up a replacement.

His decision earned a rebuke from McClaren and an internally imposed one-match ban, which ruled him out of the Germany encounter.

In handing down his punishment, McClaren made it clear he felt the matter had been dealt with and, true to his word, the England coach has had no hesitation in ushering Bentley back into the fold.

"He made a wrong decision in the summer," said McClaren.

"But I like his strength of character and his belief. They are ingredients you need to be an international player.

"I was interested to see what his reaction would be after what happened surrounding the last squad.

"I am pleased to see it has been excellent and I am delighted to bring him back."