LM:

Hargreaves trained in Germany (as the article mentioned), Scholes has retired, Carrick is no Iniesta and not guaranteed a game, Neville well past it, Brown has offered little bar one cross and Rooney barely breaks into double figures for goals scored.

U need to drink from the well of realism

Ross Allan, Engerlund,

The great Mr. Samuel has drunk too deeply from the well of despair. Just look at Manchester United's English: For Senna, read Hargreaves. For Xavi and Iniesta Scholes and Carrick. Neville and Brown (the cross in the final!) have done well à la Ramos, and Rooney is better than either Torres or Villa.

LM, Oslo, Norway

I agree mostly with the article but "There is no equivalent of Senna or Mehmet Aurélio, of Turkey, for instance - the selfless deep midfield player, breaking up play and eating up the space in which all second strikers thrive." ; Owen Hargreaves?

josh dickson, preston, uk

Am I missing something here? Weren't 10 of the 22 players in the 2008 Champions League final, erm, English ? We don't lack technical skill or ability, our players learn from the best in the Premier League, weekly. You want the players to want to do it and a manager with the psychology and the plan!

Paul M, Welwyn Garden City,

A very fine point well made. Things change and lets hope Fabio is a changling. The spanish change has come over night. Abilility seems second to mental strenght and belief.

Jonah Louis, Lincoln, England

Laurence, bristol,

Don't mention it, just thought people had forgotten as it's ONLY 2 years less than Spain's so called under-achievers........

José, Liverpool, UK

Martin from Germany makes a good point. All I see in the English press is how bad their players are.

Sven beat Germany away 5-1, lost one qualifier in 3 years and always got past the group stages and was still hounded out of the job. No wonder the team plays without confidence and spirit!

cameron, Paisley,

At least one of the men who might matter- David Beckham- has chosen to bury his head in the sand and avoid watching the tournament as it is "too painful" to watch. I don't imagine he is alone in this.

Phil, London,

The England defence was solid for most of the qualification. England only conceded two goals (one an own goal) before the final two matches vs Russia and Croatia. Injuries wrecked the defence in those last two matches. How many teams would defend well if virtually the entite back line was missing?

Bill, California,

Spot on. Schweinsteiger is the player Beckham could have been, with pace.

English players are too arrogant and, dare I say it, stupid to adapt to a game and actually play - they have forgotten what the game is about.

I have always said Rio would be better as a Viera-type - who has the vision?

J. Wilkes, Gloucester,

My oh my. Isn't it just so cool to bash the English.

The "Euro Champs are so much better for not having England" comment has been done to death by more than one newspaper.

Try something different.

Maz, Yorkshire,

Forget tactical awareness. England are technically inferior. Control of the ball doesn't come easy. The Spanish showed wonderful ball control, instant deft touches and swift delivery to other team mates. All with little effort.
England are an embarassment.

T. Elcock
Cambridge

terry elcock, Cambridge,

I'd like to think that this piece was written to prompt a debate. There are various members of the ENG team who are comfy switching between positions - Steven Gerrard has occupied every position bar GK. Had Spain lost their shoot-out we'd probably talking about why our boys aren't Italian enough...

Alex Stevens, London,

...and YOU are saying this now!!?? In my circle of friends we have been saying this for many many years. We hear expert pundits rant on about 4-4-2 and other systems interminably. Then someone said it in commentary in this tournament about fexibility of individual players. The ignorance is hilarious

sean mcgrady, York, UK

Why do you and your press talk the english team down in this way?
England loose the quali against croatia and russia. That teams played a very successful tournament.
Your players have of course much more soccers skills than the greeks 2004.

Martin, Hannover, Germany

Very important keys to success are belief in winning, resiliance and teamspirit. Psychology.
This kind of articles are not supporting that points.
Some arguments may be right - perhaps. But this press - and thats the conservative times - gives not the signal "yes we can".

See you 2010 (HF).

Martin, Hannover, Germany

"There is no equivalent of Senna or Aurélio,- the selfless deep midfield player, breaking up play and eating up the space ..."

Don't forget it's been 42 years since England's ONLY triumph in a leading tournament, and that was on home soil as well........

Two words : Nobby Stiles

KeithS, San Jose, California

Hey folks,
don´t make the english team worse than it is. You lost your qualification against Croatia and Russia. No other group during the qualification was even close that hard. Russia made it to the semi-final and Croation deserved to be there. They were the better team against Turkey.

Hammi, Muenster, Germany

I guess we were all expecting Capello to declare the problem as lack of technique. Surprisingly, he says not and he would know, and wouldn't hold back if he thought so. So let's torture ourselves with adaptability, what a laugh? It's about confidence simple as that!!

Richard, Bournemouth, UK

How about, we try and replicate the strength of mind and discipline that Germany show at nearly every major tournament instead. Itrs not all about multi skilling, its more about getting out there and believing you can win...or caring in Englands case!

Gavin, Melbourne , Australia

England is having the same trouble Spain had short time ago.Our players playing at home so we believe they were the best, just because they were in the media everyday, but we forgot they use to play with foreing partners who really made the difference.Export players and reduce foreigns in the Premie

Pepe, Salamanca, Spain

Well we have ashley young, not being used, we have theo walcott, not being used, agbonlahor, not being used. players with pace, not given the chance because we dont want to upset gerrard, beckham, lampard, rooney etc. England should be a privilege, not a given to waste any more opportunities.

adam, west mids,

José, Liverpool, UK

Really? I had forgotten that.

laurence, bristol,

I have long thought that Gerrard's skill set makes him the ideal choice to play right back, a position where England have been very weak for over a decade. I hope Capello will see it that way too, as we are already blessed with mid-fielders who are all at least as good as Gerrard in that position.

Barrie Collins, Long Sault, Ontario, Canada

The problem with english players is that they are not taught how to play in restricted spaces,Martin you only have to go to Africa to see how youngsters are playing in the streets, not the big parks u have here. You shouldn't forget that u have Reo-Coker who with more discipline CAN BE a good option

Oscar, London,

Again, we have to try and make out England to be a lost cause...GREECE WON EURO 2004!!! its not about multi skilled players, or world class players, its about team team team...organisation, tactics, belief and a little skill can win world cups and euros.

Gavin, London, England

As a northern Ireland fan I note this about england: you hate balance in your team and favour 'big names'. You can't decide how you want to play i.e. with a playmaking front man/counter attack/wing play etc. And you over-rate premier league players - playing for top 4 doesn't mean great player

dave, preston,

Capello likes to play 4-2-3-1. In Hargreaves & Carrick there are two players who complement each other in the DM role. I don't rate Barry & Gerrard at all; maybe it's because the FA are all Liverpool biased and anti Man Utd... Paul Scholes was never given the respect he deserved by England.

Robert Ward, Chester,

"There is no equivalent of Senna or Aurélio,- the selfless deep midfield player, breaking up play and eating up the space in which all second strikers thrive".

Owen Hargreaves is exactly this kind of player. Unfortunately, he was injured through most of the crucial qualifiers.

Matt , Gloucester, UK

The essence of it is this: you cannot afford to have players on a team who can only do one thing...the striker who stands up front, the midfield "holding" player who does nothing else, the full back who runs in a line up and down his side of the pitch delivering balls to the over run static striker.

sean mcgrady, York, UK

Don't forget it's been 42 years since England's ONLY triumph in a leading tournament, and that was on home soil as well........

José, Liverpool, UK

Why is everything so extreme? England aren't as bad as you say, and they aren't as good as you thought after the champions leafue final... everything is always so extreme in the English. And this is the Times, imagine what's been printed in the tabloids...

Felipe, London, England

It's difficult to imagine England ever playing the kind of football that has been on offer from many of the teams in this tournament. The key factors have been pace, passing, possession and movement and England don't do any of them particularly well. They can lump the ball forward, though.

Steve, Overton, UK

Another Ace Martin. What would be more pertinent is to maintain this level of direct, but constructive criticism, throughout until the footballing ethos of England fundamentally changes. I've been a youth coach for about 5 yrs and those challenges exist even at that level. So we have a job on hand!

Raff Martin, Blandford, UK

Goes to prove my view that Premier League is not what it is hyped to be. Sadly, guy on the UK street, feels it is Englands right for them to win a cup in every tournament that comes up. Hence the let down when they fail to match up with excuses ranging from referee to manager to individual player.

jon, London,

One should not forget that Senna and Mehmet Aurelio are both Brasilians, so the mssing of an defensive midfield player is not a problem to the English alone. By the way, Owen Hargreaves fits perfect in this position.

Matthias, Vienna, Austria

On the contrary, over the recent years, England has been able to call on footballers that stand comparison with any country in Europe: Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Owen, Rooney etc. Unlike Germany, or others, we failed to put together a team with a winning mindset. Whining, we do well, however.

Brian Jones, Philadelphia, USA

Correct me if I am wrong, I remember reading an article of yours last month in the aftermath of the champs league final, which was about how england deserve to be champions of the world, if not the galaxy.

Krish, aberdeen,

How can you possibly say that Ferdinand has the technical ability to play in the midfield. He would be miixing it with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Deco, Sneijder and Modric. You cannot seriously expect him to compete with them technically.

Josh, Sydney,

Strange thing is that regardless of whether England had qualified or not, the article could have still been written. There are countless times over the last big tournaments that England have looked woefully out of their depth. What we choose to do about it remains a big question mark though.

Stuart McGachen, Dubai, UAE

it's depressing to hear this relentless barrage of criticism levelled at the England throughout this euro 2008 campaign. Had England qualified we really don't know how they would have done so your comments are highly speculative. the future does look bright- walcott, young, agbonalahor, johnson etc

nick, leeds, UK

Martin,
Hargreaves, Gerrard, Carragher, King, and Barry have all played in both defence and midfield for England very competently so your point about Hamit is misguided. Sadly if such a move backfires, such as Gareth Southgate against Germany, then the manager is pilloried in the press.

Rob, Bristol,

Good article Martin.
Apart from our players not being as good as they are hyped up to be,generally,and of course there are exceptions,our players seem to be as thick as two planks.And intelligence is as important as talent at the highest level.Our players are rich and overated but clever?Nah!

chris dee, london,

yes, Fabregas did brilliantly. But doon't be blind. Man of the match was Iniesta and Sergio Ramos.

J Sanselire , Ipswich, England

i agree with most of your analysis...but wait a minute.....england do have someone with discipline, who covers ground and cuts off attacks like Senna or Aurélio....Owen Hargreaves. If that is not a position England have the right player for...then you are being overly critical.

jeff, singapore, singapore

Well said, Martin. I've just spent the last week arguing the same point with work colleagues, who still bemoan England's absence. Just as well we didn't qualify we would have been hammered by any one of the teams there, except perhaps France.

Francis Tuttle, Madrid,

England are going to have a torrid time at the international level moving forward. Countries once considered minnows have moved ahead. Today any of the top 4 african countries, Russia, Turkey, Croatia can knock England out.
I don't think Cappello can stem the rot. Sad : (

rdiddy, nY,

I have to admit that in a way I'm kind of glad England didn't qualify because it has caused a lot of us to actually step back and properly look at the team without the narrow minded view we all tend to have sometimes. Hopefully they'll do the same and really look at areas of improvement .

Lasselle, London, UK

Agree with everything, Martin, except your assessment of Fabregas. Fabregas is an absolutely sublime player with a wonderful touch, vision and awareness. Premier League fans aren't bemused he isn't in the team out of some kind of myopia. They can see he's the world's best midfielder. Period.

Sligunner, Sligo, Ireland

English football has no long term plan. Its as if each plan starts @ the beginning of tourno play offs & ends once they are bundled out.

The Arsenal is the model that English football should copy. There are no knee jerk reactions by the powers that be. They will not be bullied by the gutter press

Gnarley, Launceston,

To add to your valid point - Cesc is one of the least versatile players at Arsenal, albeit hugely talented. But Aragones confidently sent him on as a 2nd striker/No.10 & to take a crucial penalty vs Buffon no less. Can England players get out of their normal positions and do a job, let alone shine?

Lou, London,