Barcelona defender Jeremy Mathieu admits he is perplexed by the England national side's troubles given the quality of their base at St George's Parl. He was greatly impressed by the complex in Burton upon Trent, where he and his teammates have been working this week on a pre-season training camp.

In their three pool fixtures in Brazil during the World Cup 2014, England's regular occupants only managed to score one point and two goals which led them, to crash out of the tournament.

France international Mathieu was bewildered and managed to make a comment on Friday saying that England have nice and lovely facilities to train it, yet they have not done very well. This puzzled him and he added that this is something he cannot answer as to why, but the English team would be the right people to answer that question.

"We only can say that we have enjoyed so much the great facilities and the amazing pitch."

"All the teams have been so happy to train together and get to know each other so much better."

This experience for Mathieu (as well as for the other athletes), is greatly significant to his career since he had just joined the Catalan outfit from Primera Division rivals Valencia. He is also expected of a significant task in proving himself with all his potentials at the Nou Camp as he looks to establish himself at a club who has lost the services of the retired Charles Puyol.

Despite of the retirement of the former skipper Puyol, he is still feeling rather optimistic about his prospects with his new employers as he views finding replacement for Puyol a pleasure.

"To be honest, for me it is a pleasure to play in the place of Puyol," Mathieu said.

"Obviously everyone knows he was a great player, but for me, this is nothing impossible. I will try to do my best and hopefully I will do well for Barcelona."