West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has revealed he knew Iceland would prove a difficult team for England to beat at Euro 2016, and said he believes the Three Lions' exit at the last-16 hurdle was down to Roy Hodgson's men lacking superior play - and some luck.
The smallest nation at this summer's European Championships, Iceland, caused a huge shock in Nice on Monday after they came from behind to eliminate England from the competition despite it being their first appearance at a major football finals.
The team also surprised many when they held Portugal to a 1-1 draw in their opening group stage game, which led to Cristiano Ronaldo labelling Iceland as "small-minded" and saying "they would go nowhere" at Euro 2016.
But with the team now facing a quarter-final match with hosts France in Paris on Sunday, Bilic has admitted he warned England of the threat Iceland posed.
Writing in his column for the Daily Mail on Wednesday, Bilic said: "England fans are not happy. Their high hopes going into Euro 2016 came to nothing.
"As I warned in these pages last week, England would not find Iceland easy to beat but it was still a big shock.
"Iceland are not a great team but they have been doing well for two years. They were in a qualifying group which included Holland, the Czech Republic and Turkey — and beat all of them at home.
"They are very good in the way they play. It is pragmatic rather than attractive but they get results.
How the British press reacted to England's Euro 2016 exit
"I wrote in my last column that England would either need something exceptional or a little bit of luck. That didn’t happen."
Interactive 'wallchart': All the fixtures at your fingertips
