Sunderland manager Roy Keane has accused England's players of allowing their egos to get in the way of success as a team.

As the post-mortem which saw England boss Steve McClaren lose his job in the wake of last night's 3-2 defeat by Croatia got underway, Keane insisted England have the players to compete, but blamed some of the egos within the camp for their failure to qualify.

He said: "You look at the talent and the technique of the players, and England have that — they have that in abundance.

"To say Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney are not as talented and technical as the other players is wrong.

"But I do believe there are too many egos about in the England set-up and that has cost them dear."

Asked if he feels current players lack the hunger to succeed at international level, he said: "Without a doubt, and I believe you could see that with England.

"The players could talk all day and say, 'No', but you judge them by their actions.

"With the top players nowadays, the clubs would be the priority, without a doubt.

"I have to be careful about what I say about international football, but in the modern day, clubs will be the priority.

"I am sure they do love playing for their countries, but I watched some of them being interviewed after the game and you could see in their attitude, players are losing the love of playing for their countries.

"There is only Scotland where they all seem to want to turn up."

Keane did have sympathy for McClaren, with whom the Irishman worked during his time as Sir Alex Ferguson's number two at Manchester United.

He said: "He's an absolutely fantastic coach.

"I didn't play under him as a manager, and there's big difference between coach and manager.

"But if you don't qualify for a major tournament, you are going to suffer the consequences.

"As an Irishman, I am not going to lose too much sleep over it. You always hope the home nations will qualify and for none to qualify is major shock.

"The manager takes the brunt, but I believe players have to take the
responsibility. If you look at the talent they have got, it is unbelievable they have not qualified.

"I have sympathy with every manager out there, especially if you are the manager of a national team.

"If you are not doing well, you have the whole country on the your back.

"But Steve, no doubt, is a quality coach and he will bounce back from that."