Manchester City defender Micah Richards has slammed Idan Tal's criticisms of England and English players.

Israeli midfielder Idan Tal claimed Steve McClaren's men are not smart enough to win Saturday's crucial Euro 2008 qualifier.

Manchester City ace Richards, who starred in the 2-1 friendly defeat to Germany two weeks ago, blasted: "Israel can say what they want but if they watched our last game they would have seen we created more chances in the first half than England have ever done.

"All the players in our squad perform every week in the Premier League.

"And we have enough quality to take maximum points from these games coming up against Israel and Russia."