England-killer Slaven Bilic has revealed the secret formula he used to beat the Three Lions at Wembley: man-mark Gareth Barry!
The Croatia coach is quickly gaining a reputation as something of a Balkan Mourinho and he is clearly revelling in the attention that comes with being the chief orchestrator of England's spectacular failure to qualify for Euro 2008.
Never short of a memorable sound-byte, the former West Ham hard-man took glee in revealing that the crux of his tactical masterplan was far less complex than most people would have expected.
"I wanted to stop the ball getting to Barry so I told my strikers that one of them had to mark him," he says. "I said 'Let Lescott and Campbell have the ball as much as they want because they are defenders but not great passers. If Rio [Ferdinand] and Terry were playing I wouldn't have been able to do that. So I have big sympathy for McClaren."
Bilic went on to accuse the English press of having a heavy hand in their national team's demise as well.
"You have to admit you all praised McClaren when he dropped Beckham. Then it became 'He's a great player, where's Beckham?'"
"You created that media aura," he added alluding to the WAGs. "You give Alex Curran [Steven Gerrard's wife] a newspaper column, you made them stars!"
Bilic is being tipped as a future Premiership manager following Croatia's Euro 2008 adventure, and on this evidence he would certainly be a colourful addition to an already vibrant league.
