Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey has hinted England took Germany lightly going into Sunday's dismal defeat.

Heskey said England were caught a little by surprise by the Germans.

The Aston Villa striker said: "We knew they were going to be strong but they did surprise us a bit.

"We have to look at certain stuff.

"But you can't blame the season in England for what happened. Germany played a long, hard season as well so you can't really use that as an excuse.

"The German league is just as tough as ours, even tougher some might say."