The brutal truth about England... not good enough!

PRETTY AS A PICTURE SUB-DUED

THE flags have stopped waving, the bunting is down and the fans have stopped chucking beer over one another.

Can we now have a sensible discussion about English football?

Amid the euphoria of the first World Cup semi-final appearance in 28 years, we need to have a rational chat beyond naked patriotism. But first, let’s start on a positive. The first point to note is that the notion no one cares about the Three Lions has now been blown out of the water.

Manager Gareth Southgate’s calm, measured approach manifested itself throughout. As a unifying force it has been second to none.

That, without question, is the England manager’s greatest legacy: He has made us believe again. The bulldog spirit is back. But, beyond that, emotions must be harnessed.

ITV pundit Roy Keane was right. Forget ‘building for the future,’ or ‘taking the positives’ or ‘learning curves’.

We were never as good as the results suggested but last Wednesday was a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

However, if we are not to leave it to the kindness of the draw, a reliance on set-pieces and luck in the lottery of a penalty shoot-out, how do we improve our chances in future?

First, let’s state some pretty horrible home truths.

Seventy-five per cent of England’s goals in the run to the semi-final came from corners, from penalties or from set-pieces.

Lump

They are all, obviously, part of the game – and thank heavens Southgate (right) had clearly spent time on the training ground drilling that home – but it masks a deeper problem.

English football may be producing good athletes but is it producing good footballers?

In total, on their run to the semi-final, the Three Lions posted only 20 efforts directly on an opponent’s goal. In six matches. Harry Maguire had more touches in the opposition box than Harry Kane.

We lost to Belgium’s reserves and Croatia. We were unable to defeat Colombia during normal time, and Jordan Pickford pulled off two magnificent stops to protect us against Sweden in the quarter-final.

In fact, even during the drubbing of Panama, Everton’s keeper had to be at his best.

Which brings us neatly onto the Croatia game. England’s best tactic during the second half was to send the ball back to former Sunderland man Pickford and for him to lump it forward. REGARDLESS of the outome today, people will look back at the World Cup in Russia as a success.

It’s not been just England fans exultant – a whole host of supporters from across the globe have bought into it.

Having been over there for three weeks, I’d say it’s not yet a country attuned to Western standards of THE LAST WORD... That was it. That was our method. That was the English DNA.

I lost count of the number of times a weighted pass was needed in our opponents’ final third. A succession of players were incapable of providing it. Be that Raheem Sterling, Jesse Lingard or Dele Alli. That’s down to technique and ability.

We were shown up against Croatia, particularly in midfield.

No one in the engine room can take it in a tight space and move it on. Noone. That’s why the defenders kept shovelling the ball back towards our own keeper for him to belt it 60 yards upfield. They didn’t trust those in midfield to keep hold of it.

For all the money that is spent at academy level among our Premier League clubs, surely a question that needs answering is why don’t we produce players of sufficient technique to be able to do what Croatia did?

After all, theirs is a country of four million inhabitants. Eight times that watched the game on the telly over here. It all comes back to coaching. English football builds athletic, strong, powerful young service – smiling isn’t a default position yet in Russia – but it sure tried hard. And do you know what has helped sell it over here? England’s success (obviously), fanfriendly kick-off times and the uncanny ability of every single pitchside cameraman to zoom in on the prettiest female supporter they could find... BLOWING the theory that footballers are tired, I give you Ivan Rakitic. The World Cup final today will be the Croatian’s 71st match of the season. is a players. Croatian football, led by Dinamo Zagreb, has concentrated on technique. No other club have turned such a profit from breeding and then selling on their players. Well over half of the Croatian team that played on Wednesday were schooled there.

Speaking to one of my Croatian colleagues, he opened up about the methods.

Prayer

Each coach at the club has eight players to look after. To improve. To teach. Then there are specific defensive, midfield and attacking coaches. Croatia should not have had a prayer against England. They had a day less to prepare, they had a two-hour match a few days earlier. But in the second half, England spent so long chasing the ball – because they don’t know how to protect it – that they were running on empty long before the final whistle. If we are to build on the foundations of togetherness that this tournament has nurtured, then we have to learn lessons. So if this truly is to be the start of a renaissance, we need to give ourselves a chance of flying the flag and raising the bunting again – but this time in triumph. Because, if truth be told, it’s never going to be as straightforward to reach the last four of a major international tournament in years to come. PENNY for the thoughts of the Croatian striker Nikola Kalinic who is sitting at home, possibly praying for France victory. He refused to come on as a sub in Croatia’s first game against Nigeria and was sent home in disgrace. Now his country stands just 90 minutes away from being crowned world champions. Good decision, Nik!