McClaren had already planned his side to include John Terry, who, as predicted yesterday, by me, was an unacceptable risk - JT then broke down in training.
To compound matters, he started Joelan Lescott at left back.
The defence became a shambles and the lack of a calming presence in Lampard allowed Russia to claw back a 1-0 deficit with ease to win 2-1 and leave England dangling at the precipice of non-qualification to Euro 2008.
Lampard's omission will haunt McClaren for the remaining months if not hours of his England tenure.
By supporting Steve Gerrard's call to play Gareth Barry and ignore Lampard's experience McClaren played right into the hands of the feisty Russians - it was a major error.
England need to beat Croatia and hope Russia fail to gain all six points off Israel and Andorra to play in next summer's tournament.