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The Three Lions boss will have a chance to really prove his credentials when it comes to selecting a side for the home clash with Estonia four days earlier.

The truth is, McClaren has had it easy for the games against Israel and Russia. Injuries to key players allowed him to bypass several big decisions that would otherwise have to have been made.

Gary Neville, David Beckham, Owen Hargreaves, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney all dropped out with a variety of problems, meaning McClaren's team effectively picked itself.

In came Micah Richards, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Gareth Barry and Emile Heskey. Two games, six goals, two clean sheets and six points later, England have unwittingly found a balance and harmony in the side that has been missing for some time.

The problem now facing McClaren is who to select when the 'big five' return to fitness. And only then will we see what the coach is really made of.

A big decision will finally have to be made - keep faith with a winning side that has picked up maximum points in their last two games and restored some confidence and pride to a team that was stuttering badly in their qualifying campaign, or bring back the more established, if not as effective, players.

Which McClaren opts for will be a big test of his character. It is not an easy choice for him to make, and the reality is that he will probably go for the middle ground in between the two extremes.

It would take real guts to leave out the likes of Lampard and Rooney, but that is perhaps what England need to do if they are to progress as a team.

Lampard has proved that he cannot play in the same side as Steven Gerrard, and with the Liverpool man clearly the more indispensable of the two, it is time Lampard settles for a place on the bench.

Owen Hargreaves is far more effective playing alongside Gerrard, but his place should not be a shoe-in for the three remaining qualifiers after the impressive performances put in over the past five days by Barry.

The Villa midfielder is, and has been for a number of years, one of the Premier League's most consistent performers. And you cannot help get the feeling that if he had played for one of the 'big four' clubs, he would have become an England regular a number of years ago.

It is a tough one to call, and the midfield conundrum is far less clear cut than the selection dilemmas McClaren faces on the right hand side. There, Richards and Wright-Phillips have made the right-back and right wing positions their own and it is difficult to imagine either Neville or Beckham winning back their places.

Wright-Phillips was the star performer against Israel, and while he was not as effective against Russia, his ability to run at defenders and get behind the back line before delivering a cross seems to unsettle opposition defences significantly more than Beckham's balls from deep.

On current form, Richards too should keep his more experienced rival out of the side. Neville has been unlucky with injury, but Richards has taken full advantage to stamp his authority on the right-back slot. A goal against Israel and two solid performances have proved just why he is so highly-rated by both club and national managers alike.

Finally, the return of Heskey - classed by some as a masterstroke from McClaren, but in reality more a last resort than anything else - has been a revelation. By rights, the Wigan striker should keep his place if he continues to shine in the Premier League over the coming weeks, but it is difficult to see a fully-fit Rooney being left out of the side.

But it would be a shame to leave Heskey out against Estonia. The rekindling of his partnership with Michael Owen has brought the best out of the Newcastle man and, as the old adage goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

On the evidence of the past few days, England's strike force is far from broken - indeed it is running as smoothly as a well-oiled machine - but whether McClaren chooses to fix it remains to be seen.

Certainly, if he leaves Rooney out, it will be one, if not the, boldest decision he has made during his career as England coach, and will go a long way to proving just how gutsy a boss he really is.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport