Toon Target Says 'Players To Blame' For Euro 2008 Exit!

Last Updated : 22-Nov-2007 by
Crouch gave us hope ... for a few minutes ... last night at Wembley, but the Liverpool striker has admitted England's players only have themselves to blame for throwing away a place at next summer European Championships.

He will be at St James' Park on Saturday, as the Magpies entertain the Reds.

Crouch: "It hasn't sunk in yet and it's a huge disappointment.

"The dressing room was extremely flat but we have got to pick ourselves up.

"There are absolutely no consolations to take from the performance. None at all. We made a terrible start to go 2-0 down in the first 15 minutes and the only thing we can take heart from is the way we played for a spell in the second half.

"We showed character to get back to 2-2 but obviously there was a final sting in the tail. I thought we had done enough at that point to get through and I think you could tell by my reaction after the goal.

"I was hoping at that point that we would go on and win the game but it wasn't to be.

"I was extremely pleased to get the goal and I thought that would give us the impetus to go and finish the job. It's so disappointing."