Bilic (right) saw his side draw 0-0 with Russia in September

Bilic, whose side will play host to England next Wednesday, criticised the squad of former boss Sven-Goran Eriksson for failing to gel as a team.

He told The Sun: "They were no good - they were nothing. They were so boring.

"I have never seen in my life such a great collection of players play as defensively as they did."

Interview: Croatia manager Slaven Bilic

England crashed out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals after losing to Portugal on penalties.

The team had had a long season, they were under pressure, there were big expectations on them - but they are all just excuses Croatia boss Slaven Bilic on England

But Bilic, who featured for West Ham and Everton during his playing career, said he was left lost for words by their overall performance.

"They just didn't play as a group, they played as individuals," added Bilic, who replaced Zlatko Kranjcar after Croatia's failure to reach the last 16 in Germany.

"And I really thought they had a great chance to win the World Cup.

"You can look back now and say the team had had a long season, they were under pressure, there were big expectations on them - but they are all just excuses.

"I couldn't even explain it to my nine-year-old son. I just don't know."

Even though Eriksson left after England's World Cup exit, Bilic is still not completely impressed by new boss Steve McClaren after the laboured 1-0 win in Macedonia last month.

"I can't understand why they played so defensively at the World Cup," he said.

"But they were the same against Macedonia, so I don't think it was all down to Eriksson."