Johnson: We took caffeine tablets

Glen Johnson has confirmed the use of caffeine tablets by England's players before the scheduled Tuesday evening kick-off of their World Cup qualifier against Poland.

Heavy rain on Tuesday, coupled with the stadium roof not being closed, forced the game to instead be played on Wednesday afternoon when it finished 1-1 after a lacklustre England display.

Reports emerged on Thursday that the team had used both sleeping pills and the caffeine tablets to combat the effects of the late rearrangement and Johnson told Friday's Daily Telegraph: "A lot of the lads take ProPlus tablets before the game and we all took that for the game. Then the game is off and no one can sleep."

He added: "It's not ideal preparation but I'm not blaming that for one bit. It was the same situation for them so it was just strange circumstances."