Dimitri Payet feels an injustice over not being selected for France and I can understand why. It is not my job to tell Didier Deschamps who he should pick. All I can say is Dimitri is the one of the highlights of the whole Premier League so far. It has not been two or three games. He has done it in every one of our matches. It is not a lucky spell.

People might be worried he feels he has to leave to play at a club in the Champions League but not all the players in top national teams are also in that competition.

Maybe if you are the coach of Germany then the criteria could be only players who have won the Champions League!

When I was coach of Croatia, I didn’t have that possibility. It was much more important that the player is doing well and he would fit in my team.

I divide the outfield players up as locomotives and wagons. You can have five wagons and they are playing in great clubs, the Champions League and everything. One might play for Inter Milan, one for Real Madrid, one for Arsenal and so on. But they are not the main players at those clubs.

And then you can have five players who are not playing for those big clubs but they are leaders in their teams. They are the main players who take responsibilities. A mix is best but it is better to have that second group of players than the first.

Payet is a locomotive. The quality of his performances — and the level of opponent he is doing it against — is amazing. For me, he should be in any national team. To be fair, France maybe has the biggest selection of quality players in Europe. But Payet did not come here as a new name. His last year in Marseille was great and he came here as a national team player, having played for France in June.

The Champions League is important because everybody is watching and you get recognition from people who are not crazily dedicated football fans. But he is still at a Premier League team. It would matter if he was playing in Portugal, no disrespect to them, or Turkey and a national coach might say you want to see him playing top level games.

But that is exactly what you get every week in England. You don’t have to play in the Champions League to have a successful international career. I didn’t.Look at the team from the 1998 World Cup which won the bronze medal. We played with three at the back. It was me, Igor Stimac from Derby and West Ham and Zvonimir Soldo from Stuttgart. None of us played in the Champions League but the three of us were the players who were among the two or three leaders at our clubs.

We won the bronze medal because we were strong characters on the pitch. We were players that the manager called up to speak to if things were going well or not. After that, Croatia had a defence made of players who played for AC Milan, Juventus and other Champions League clubs but they were either not regulars or not leaders.

Of course, there is a difference if one guy is playing in the Croatian league and the other is at Manchester United. But even then, I had three or four Croatian-based players in the team I managed and we still beat England twice in qualifying for Euro 2008.

If it is the same top league, I wouldn’t see a difference as an international coach if one guy is playing for Leicester and the other guy Manchester City. They are good enough because they play every week. It is more about the quality of the player, their character and how they gel with others. Payet fits everything on that list — and that matters more than anything else.

Remember Brendan now he walks alone

Jurgen Klopp plays his first game in England tomorrow but I want to say how sorry I feel for Brendan Rodgers.

People say he is on big wages and it is a well-paid job but it doesn’t make you less human. It is hard to cope with pressure from the modern media when every fan who wants to spend 10 minutes a day behind a computer is like a journalist.

They voice opinions and opinions nowadays are mostly negative. People forget how good they were two years ago. I know it is part of the job and comes with the territory but I feel bad for him.

Now they have all moved on, Liverpool and Klopp looks like a perfect match. They needed Klopp to wake up the extra qualities they have: the fanbase, the energy, Anfield becoming a fortress again. It is great to have him in the Premier League.

Liverpool are a special club, a cult club and sing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. They should not forget Brendan is walking alone now.

Eagles mustn’t clip our wings

The international break has made preparing for the Crystal Palace game difficult.

The last time we were lucky because we played Newcastle on Monday and had two more days. Now, Cheikhou Kouyate and Diafra Sakho only returned to training yesterday and I haven’t seen many of the players for nearly two weeks. It is the same for a lot of clubs, of course.

Palace are very solid at the back and up front they have six players from which they are choosing four. Those six are sharp, fast and direct. With Yohan Cabaye, especially, they have good delivery from all areas.

It is important we keep the momentum going. We need points. The League can change so quickly — you can find yourself flying one moment and then in trouble the next. We want to keep flying.

Don’t mark England down after their amazing 10 out of 10 in Europe

England won all 10 Euro 2016 qualifiers but I hear people saying it doesn’t mean much because the group was bad. I’m not buying that rubbish.

Yes, it is easier because of what UEFA president Michel Platini has done by allowing two teams to go through directly and a third in a play-off now the finals are increased to 24 teams, but nobody qualified as easily as England.

Italy drew twice with Croatia and once with Bulgaria. Spain lost their game in Slovakia and Holland didn’t even qualify. What England did was amazing: it has only been done five times before in history.

I said to Julian Dicks at training on Wednesday: “Congratulations on 10 out of 10 — it is unbelievable.”

He replied: “Yes, but look at the quality of the teams.”

Put Manchester City in League Two and make them play 10 games. I am not sure they would win them all. Winning 10 on the trot is difficult, no matter who you play. Okay, if you play San Marino and Andorra every week, you probably will. But Slovenia, Lithuania and Estonia are better than that.

Lithuania vs England - player ratings 13 show all Lithuania vs England - player ratings 1/13 Jack Butland: 7 Hardly saw the ball in the first half, but reacted well when faced with Spalvis’ shot with the score 1-0 – making a fine one-handed save to deny the Lithuania striker – before dealing with Slivka’s chipped free-kick in the second half. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images) 2/13 Kyle Walker: 6 Had a couple of disappointing moments on the ball when defending and attacking, but combined well with Oxlade-Chamberlain in the second half to set up the Arsenal man for his goal. 3/13 Phil Jagielka: 6 Performed well on his first outing as England captain, marshalling his back line well despite the lack of cutting edge from Lithuania’s forwards. 4/13 Phil Jones: 6 Was solid alongside Jagielka in the heart of England’s defence although the duo were never really tested. 5/13 Kieran Gibbs: 6 The left-back was never really threatened down his flank and regularly moved forwards to help England build their attacks, exemplified when he cut inside to set up Vardy on the stroke of half time. 6/13 Jonjo Shelvey: 5 The Swansea midfielder was involved in some of England’s attacks, but didn’t really have any trouble containing Lithuania’s midfielders in front of the defence. 7/13 Ross Barkley: 8 Started the game further back but proved the difference after scoring a superb goal in the 28th minute to give England the lead before testing Arlauskis with a fine header in the second half. Was replaced by Townsend with 20 minutes to go. 8/13 Adam Lallana: 6 Set up England’s second goal with his neat flick to Kane and linked up well several times with the England striker. Was replaced by Alli in the 66th minute but enjoyed a good game. 9/13 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 8 After a quiet first half, the Arsenal winger sprung into action in the second period after scoring England’s third of the night and nearly creating another with his fine pass for Kane minutes earlier. 10/13 Jamie Vardy: 5 Endured a disappointing night in Vilnius after allowing Novikovas to get past him too easily to test Butland with a shot and - after being set up by Gibbs - opting to go for goal instead of finding a team-mate. Was shown a yellow card for encroachment with 10 minutes to go. 11/13 Harry Kane: 7 Looked bright throughout the game and tested Arlauskis with several early chances before he set up Barkley for the opener. The striker’s good work on the ball ended in England taking a 2-0 lead - although his effort was officially given as an own goal – and should have made it 3-0 before being taken off. A positive game for the Spurs star. 12/13 Dele Alli: 6 Had an immediate impact after being brought on in the second period when he found Ings with his lovely pass from the middle. 13/13 Danny Ings: 6 Came on for Kane in the second half and linked up with fellow substitute Alli to drive a good shot at Arlauskis although it was saved. Didn’t have any other clear-cut chances. 1/13 Jack Butland: 7 Hardly saw the ball in the first half, but reacted well when faced with Spalvis’ shot with the score 1-0 – making a fine one-handed save to deny the Lithuania striker – before dealing with Slivka’s chipped free-kick in the second half. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images) 2/13 Kyle Walker: 6 Had a couple of disappointing moments on the ball when defending and attacking, but combined well with Oxlade-Chamberlain in the second half to set up the Arsenal man for his goal. 3/13 Phil Jagielka: 6 Performed well on his first outing as England captain, marshalling his back line well despite the lack of cutting edge from Lithuania’s forwards. 4/13 Phil Jones: 6 Was solid alongside Jagielka in the heart of England’s defence although the duo were never really tested. 5/13 Kieran Gibbs: 6 The left-back was never really threatened down his flank and regularly moved forwards to help England build their attacks, exemplified when he cut inside to set up Vardy on the stroke of half time. 6/13 Jonjo Shelvey: 5 The Swansea midfielder was involved in some of England’s attacks, but didn’t really have any trouble containing Lithuania’s midfielders in front of the defence. 7/13 Ross Barkley: 8 Started the game further back but proved the difference after scoring a superb goal in the 28th minute to give England the lead before testing Arlauskis with a fine header in the second half. Was replaced by Townsend with 20 minutes to go. 8/13 Adam Lallana: 6 Set up England’s second goal with his neat flick to Kane and linked up well several times with the England striker. Was replaced by Alli in the 66th minute but enjoyed a good game. 9/13 Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 8 After a quiet first half, the Arsenal winger sprung into action in the second period after scoring England’s third of the night and nearly creating another with his fine pass for Kane minutes earlier. 10/13 Jamie Vardy: 5 Endured a disappointing night in Vilnius after allowing Novikovas to get past him too easily to test Butland with a shot and - after being set up by Gibbs - opting to go for goal instead of finding a team-mate. Was shown a yellow card for encroachment with 10 minutes to go. 11/13 Harry Kane: 7 Looked bright throughout the game and tested Arlauskis with several early chances before he set up Barkley for the opener. The striker’s good work on the ball ended in England taking a 2-0 lead - although his effort was officially given as an own goal – and should have made it 3-0 before being taken off. A positive game for the Spurs star. 12/13 Dele Alli: 6 Had an immediate impact after being brought on in the second period when he found Ings with his lovely pass from the middle. 13/13 Danny Ings: 6 Came on for Kane in the second half and linked up with fellow substitute Alli to drive a good shot at Arlauskis although it was saved. Didn’t have any other clear-cut chances.

Everybody expects too much. Sometimes it feels like people are just waiting for failure by focusing on the negative. Then it becomes a problem.

It is the same with my country. Croatia qualified because Italy beat Norway this week. When a team qualify for a European Championship or a World Cup, it is about more than football: it is a matter of state interest. The prime ministers celebrate and it is a big thing for every country, not only for Wales, who have been waiting for so long. I watched the highlights of Italy beating Azerbaijan and they celebrated like crazy. That’s Italy! Turkey qualifying was like a fairytale for the country in general.

For me, England fans should react like this: it is brilliant, 10 out of 10, only five teams have done it in history and then say, “But we are expecting much tougher games and we must improve”.

The team should be praised first off. They deserve it.