England 2-1 Croatia: 5 takeaways | UEFA Nations League 2018-19

#2 Luka Modric made no impact in the game

Luka Modric made no big impact

A midfield is the heart of the team. For a team like Croatia who don't have many star players playing for them, the stars who are present need to step up. The midfield duo of Rakitic and Modric had always spelled danger to the opposition. But today, Luka was alone with Rakitic injured, and sorry to say - he had no impact in the game.

A player of Luka's stature should have been dictating terms for his team. England played possession football in the midfield, but he could do nothing to stop that.

When Croatia got hold of the ball, he was not good as well. Even though England possesses blistering pace, their midfield is not that big a threat. Delph, Dier, and Barkley are not defensively that strong or good pressers for that matter.

Luka hardly demanded the ball when he should have done that and dictated the pace of the game. Instead, he was left isolated in the midfield, neither here nor there.

In the second half as well, he did not dictate terms. We have seen Luka hold onto the ball and keep it with him as long as he likes. It could be said that the hype surrounding him is too much, and he is losing his concentration, or perhaps we expect too much of him. His passing success rate was 84 percent, which is too little for his standing. All three of the English midfielders had better pass success than him.

Delph and Dier had 88 percent and 96 percent passing success respectively, while attempting as much as Luka.

A bad day for Luka Modric, and as of late - a regular bad day. Luka is not justifying the case for him being the best player of 2018.