Fabian Delph hails team’s character and impact of substitutes after England’s dramatic UEFA Nations League victory over Croatia
England booked their place in the final stage of the competition after coming from a goal down to beat the World Cup finalists at Wembley
Fabian Delph said he was not surprised to see England beat Croatia despite going a goal down to the World Cup finalists in the second-half.
The Three Lions clawed their way back to reach the finals of the inaugural UEFA Nations League with strikes from Jesse Lingard and Harry Kane ensuring an excellent 2-1 comeback victory.
It looked as though England were going to slump to relegation from the top tier when Andrej Kramaric's deflected strike gave the visitors an undeserved lead.
However, the introduction of substitutes Dele Alli, Lingard and Jadon Sancho helped Gareth Southgate's men get a second wind and eventually secure the win.
And Delph cited the character in the England dressing room as the main reason for them completing the comeback, while also heaping praise on the second-half substitutes.
Speaking to talkSPORT's Nigel Adderley after the game, Delph said: "The win doesn’t surprise me. We’ve got a lot of character in the dressing room, we’ve got a management team that believe in us and we’re all heading in the same direction.
"After going a goal behind I don’t think we panicked out there, we stayed true to ourselves and as I said we’ve got more than enough to come from a goal behind to win.
"The subs that came on made a massive difference.
"We only had two days to plan for this game after playing the USA. I thought we put in a really good performance and that set the tone for this game.
"We’ve planned diligently going into this game, we knew what threats they were going to cause us and we’ve managed to nail the game plan down to a tee."
Delph was arguably a surprise selection for this game, starting in midfield alongside Eric Dier and Ross Barkley, however, Southgate explained before the match that Jordan Henderson was carrying an injury.
Starting Delph turned out to be a masterstroke, with the Manchester City man spraying the ball around brilliantly to the delight of England fans.
But Delph, who played left-back for most of last season at City as cover for the injured Benjamin Mendy, admitted even he doesn't know where his best position is.
He added: "I’m not sure what type of player I am to be honest!
"I’m playing left-back at Man City with the ability to come inside and also the ability to stay wide.
"I’ve played attacking midfield, defensive midfield and I feel I can do myself justice wherever I play.
"For me, it’s all about the team, I’ve always been that way and if I can help the team push forward then I’m happy."
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