GORDON STRACHAN believes his players have been given a vision of what they have to become if they are to reach the levels he has set for them.

The Scotland boss made no attempt to either hide his disappointment at the 3-1 defeat to England, or his admiration for the way Wayne Rooney and Co. went about dismantling his side.

He said: "The intensity England played at, the strength they played at and the pace they played at, without the ball especially, was fantastic.

"It kind of spooked our players.

"They must have watched our game (against the Irish) and thought, 'Right, we will go for them.' And that's what they did. Our players expected England to sit back and wait. But they didn't do that. It's a team full of Champions League players."

Strachan will reflect on the fact he kept the same side, minus injured Steven Fletcher, that played against Ireland and admitted: "I think we are also mentally fatigued from Friday, and that is something I need to look at.

"It was a feature of our game that we gave the ball away, under pressure and without pressure.

"The team that looked after the ball better was England, and the team that pressurised better was England.

"We have to be at our maximum to play against a top side like England. I thought we were against Germany for 70 minutes."