Peter Crouch has admitted England simply were not good enough to qualify for UEFA EURO 2008.

Crouch was one of few players to emerge with any credit as England were beaten by Croatia on Wednesday and he was honest enough to concede his side just did not perform when it counted.

Steve McClaren paid the price for England's elimination when he was sacked on Thursday but Crouch, who scored the equaliser at Wembley, believes results show the players just weren't up to the job.

"You'd have to say so, only because of the fact that we haven't qualified and that is the biggest disappointment," he said. "It is the most disappointing day of my career. I've not had too many disappointments. At least with losing the Champions League final last year, at least we've got there.

"The fact we expected to qualify and we haven't done is the most disappointing thing," the lanky striker went on. "Once we get it out of the system we can look at where we went wrong in the other games as well."

Scott Carson's poor display contributed significantly to England's exit but Crouch is adamant the Liverpool goalkeeper, currently on loan at Aston Villa, deserves support rather than abuse from English fans.

"I wouldn't wish that on him," said Crouch. "He is a great lad and a fantastic keeper. It wasn't just him. Over the course of qualifying, there have been mistakes and we have to look at ourselves as a team as a whole."

"Although he will be disappointed I've trained and played with him every day and I know just how good he is," insisted the forward. "I am sure he will be an England number one in a few years to come. I wouldn't say it was a risk to play him. He has made mistakes but he is young and hopefully people don't get on his back too much."