BEIJING, March 28 -- The Football Association offered its support yesterday to embattled England coach Steve McClaren.

McClaren, who replaced Sven Goran-Eriksson after the World Cup, is under fire after England's poor start to the 2008 European Championship qualifying campaign.

"We have been with the squad throughout the past week and it is obvious to us just how hard Steve and his coaching staff are working to get results," the FA's international committee chiefs Noel White and David Richards said in a statement.

"We would once again like to offer our full support to Steve and all the team," they added.

England labored to a 0-0 draw with Israel in Tel Aviv on Saturday, its fifth straight game without a win, prompting much of the domestic media to call for McClaren's dismissal.

England is third in Group E, five points behind leader Croatia and three points behind Russia.

England plays Andorra today in Barcelona, Spain.

White and Richards denied British news reports that they had summoned McClaren to a meeting this week to explain the poor results.

"At a time when we are giving our full support to Steve and the England team ahead of tomorrow night's game with Andorra, these stories are very unhelpful," the statement said.

But the British media stepped up their attack on McClaren yesterday with a barrage of criticism.

The media, echoing the views of many fans on Internet message boards, have pilloried McClaren after Saturday's draw in Israel left England with a dismal set of statistics.

It has had its worst set of results for 26 years with two defeats, three draws and only one goal in its last five matches. McClaren has the worst record of any England manager after eight games, having started with three wins.

A banner headline in mass circulation tabloid The Sun said McClaren was on "Planet Donut" for defending England's performance in Tel Aviv and described him as "a manager who's away with the fairies".

"Mad Mac" was the back page description of the beleaguered coach in The Mirror, adding inside: "He's lost the plot - Absurd McClaren in denial as he tries to defend the indefensible".

"He's deluded" argued the Daily Mail, asking if he was a "Maths dunce" for saying England had 17 attempts on goal against Israel, when UEFA's statistics made it eight, plus a Jamie Carragher header on to the bar.

The more upmarket papers held their fire, giving McClaren credit for having faced the media on Monday.

(Source: Shanghai Daily)