Too much, too soon, for the boys in green
We went into the Croatia game with a goalkeeper who was carrying an injury and had been on the winning team just once in his last 17 club games; a left back who had won just four league games all season; a centre half who played only three games with his club since February; another centre half who played only every second game for a mid-table Championship team all season; a right full who hadn’t won a game with his club since St Patrick’s Day; two wide men who had scored only two goals between them since Christmas; a central midfielder who’d won only one of his last 10 Premier League games; another central midfielder who wasn’t even playing in the Premier League up until February; and then two strikers who registered only one Premier League win and eight goals between them all season.
We simply had too many players coming off too many defeats and injuries and goal droughts since qualification was won in November to expect they’d suddenly be transformed once they put on a green shirt.
