James Milner believes England will reap the benefits at Euro 2012 of the current influx of young players not worn down by previous tournament failures.
Milner believes being unable to meet the expectations levels of the nation - and a succession of penalty shoot-out setbacks - can take its toll on even the most experienced professionals. But the Manchester City midfielder is excited by the blend of youth and older heads chosen by new head coach Roy Hodgson for Poland and the Ukraine this summer.
Milner said: "I think there is a lot of a different feel around the squad now than before. I think maybe the squad had a lot of players in it who had been to a lot of major tournaments before and maybe had suffered the expectations and the disappointments."
He added: "I think maybe it does wear you down. Now we have that mix of younger players who haven't gone through that time and time again.
"They haven't gone through the unlucky parts of tournament football you are going to get, the decisions that go against you, like the Frank Lampard 'goal' not given against Germany in the World Cup.
"It does wear down on you and they are going into it fresh and, if you like, don't have those negative thoughts or memories in their head going into the tournament."
Milner admitted: "The squad has changed massively since I've come into the squad. You see faces that maybe you played in the Under-21s with coming through.
"It's massively important you have the experienced players the Steven Gerrards, John Terrys, Gareth Barrys, Ashley Coles who have been there and played loads of football.
"But you've got the younger players who are going into it wide eyed and don't have that experience."
Source: PA
