Allardyce said: “Qualification for the European Championship is more difficult because of the devastating injuries that Steve is facing. It’s a fact. It’s not an excuse.
“Everybody without their best players – if they stay without their best players for too long – loses their job, because they start losing matches they’ve got to win.
“It will be the same with England. Because you’ve got so few matches, if the timing is wrong for you and you can’t get the best side out then you come in for a lot of criticism, and it won’t be any fault of Steve’s really or the players.
“It’s just that he’s so devastated by his best players being missing. You’ve got to put out what you can, and they’ll do as best they can, and hopefully that is enough. But if it’s not, we all know what is going to come, don’t we?”
