Slaven Bilic has said that England deserves to be praised after a straight world cup qualification that saw them joining elite countries like Germany and Spain.
The West Ham manager was asked, seeing as why England can be a bit dull to watch.
He said: “It’s hard to produce that rhythm. You need both teams to play. You can’t expect one team to run like crazy when the other is slowing the tempo of the game.
“That’s been for years the situation in international football.
“Sometimes in the Champions League and Europa League, English teams can’t get into the rhythm. You need both.
“I think England have done well. They’ve qualified and I know the English press and fans talk like qualifiers are like friendly games which, on one hand, OK, but only to a certain level.
“Portugal needed to win their final game in a group with Switzerland but if England were in a group with Switzerland you’d think they were like Slovenia. Italy are going to the Play-Offs, France needed to win their last game, Croatia needed to win to go to the Play-Offs and they have a really good team.
“Apart from Germany and Belgium, nobody cruised to qualification, so we should appreciate that.”
Asked about striker Andy Carroll’s motivation before a World Cup year, Bilic said: “Players are hoping and thinking of the World Cup, not only British players but the foreigners too. It’s a motivation and it’s the same for Andy Carroll.
“We spoke so many times, as we did before Euro 2016. He needs to be consistent, play well, score goals and make an impact on a regular basis for West Ham to think about an England call-up.
“I watched the second England game because of Aaron Cresswell, but Andy needs to concentrate on club football because only by playing well for West Ham will he force Gareth Southgate to give him a call.”
