Joe Allen was disappointed Wales could not make life more difficult for Croatia's Luka Modric in their World Cup qualifier.
Playmaker Modric was one of the key performers in a dominant display from the hosts as they cruised to a 2-0 victory. Wales struggled throughout the contest to get to grips with Croatia's dynamic passing game and Allen was critical of his own performance, expressing his frustration at his inability to prevent Modric from dictating proceedings.
"Modric is a great player and you want to test yourself against those types of players," Allen said.
"For me personally it was disappointing because I felt he controlled the game for them and looked comfortable throughout. "You always want to make it as difficult as possible for your opponents and, if I'm honest, I think my level of performance individually just wasn't quite good enough."
Modric has been one of Europe's leading midfielders for a few seasons and, after a successful four-year spell with Tottenham, he was signed by Spanish giants Real Madrid in August. Allen also made a high-profile move over the summer, joining Liverpool from Swansea, and his reputation has been growing rapidly over the past year or so. As far as the 22-year-old Welshman is concerned, though, the match on Tuesday clearly demonstrated that he is some way off being on Modric's level.
"He (Modric) is a top, top player, he plays for one of the best clubs in the world and I think in his position he's one of the very best," Allen said. "I think it showed that I've probably got quite a lot of work to do if I'm going to get anywhere near his level."
Meanwhile, Wales boss Chris Coleman has said he will not "beg" forward Craig Bellamy to continue playing for the team. Due to injury, Bellamy has not featured at all for the Dragons during a qualifying campaign in which they have won one and lost three of their four fixtures, leaving them in fifth place in Group A, seven points behind second-placed Croatia and leaders Belgium. The 33-year-old's international future has been in some doubt, and Coleman told BBC Sport:
"I don't see why I should, as the manager of Wales, beg any player to play for their country. "Craig knows the door has always been open for him. Nobody has closed the door on him."
Source: team_talk
