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The Daily Telegraph comes over all tabloid, declaring: "Moscow mauling - McClaren credibility in tatters". Henry Winter compares the sweet chariot of English rugby with football's "darkened hearse". Profound.

The Sun warm to a rugby theme, picturing McClaren's head on an oval ball on their front page above the demand: "Kick him into touch". Two puns for the price of one in the sport section: "We're in Rooins - as for Mac.. It's iron curtains". They also analyse the three 'McClamities' that will cost England a place at Euro 2008 (Croatia, Macedonia and Russia, for those scoring at home).

"The buck stops with the head coach and rightly so," harrumphs Martin Samuel of the Times, who also takes a swipe at Rooney for his "calamitous and naïve foul" on Konstantin Zyrianov. Meanwhile Matt Dickinson writes McClaren's managerial obituary under the disconcertingly graphic headline: "Vultures circle over twitching corpse of McClaren's regime"

Oddly, the Mirror are the only paper to bother mentioning the synthetic pitch, going for the lacklustre "Plastic bullet" as their back-page lead. Inside, the "Nyet mare" headline is even worse, grossly overestimating as it does the man on the street's ability to speak Russian.

The Guardian holds England's players as culpable as their manager, pointing the finger at Wayne Rooney for his clumsy challenge that resulted in the penalty, and goalkeeper Paul Robinson for gifting Roman Pavlyuchenko his second. They do not spare McClaren, though, running quotes from Russia coach Guus Hiddink highlighting England's tactical failings.

"Mos-KO" screams the Daily Star, adding: "Mac on brink after penalty cock-up woe". Whatever that means.

The Daily Mail dismisses McClaren's claim that referee Luis Medina Cantalejo, not he, should carry the can, concluding: "Ref has a penalty shocker but real villain is McClaren as England throw it away".

Five contenders to replace McClaren find their names in the Independent, the most intriguing of which is former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho. Also named are Martin O'Neill, Terry Venables, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Hiddink.

The Daily Express focuses on Steven Gerrard's missed sitter when England were a goal to the good, asking: "Does this miss sack Mac?"

Eurosport