Embarrassment

Let's face it from the first game we were never in this tournament. Flattered by beating a nation of two million in the last group game, we were made to look what we are, a collection of individuals by the Germans.

The simple fact is that we don't have enough English players playing Premier League football at a high enough standard. When Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City fill their starting line ups with foreign players (funded by the TV money), then where are the future English internationals going to play football at the highest standard? Now you can argue that if they're good enough then they will break through but that simply means that when one or two do, you end up with players (Rooney, Gerrard & Lampard) who have no competition for their places. Others like Theo Walcott don't play regularly enough which just adds pressure when they do play and some of the "top" players actually aren't.

This has two impacts firstly the good ones get too complacent and secondly their replacements (if they get injured) play for West Ham, Aston Villa and the the like and that drop in class shows.

The future, I fear, is bleak. Our "golden generation" is getting old, many will not play in another World Cup and the players coming up from the Under 21's don't look of the same class (and who do they play for both now and in the future?).

As worrying is, if you read the BBC gossip column, all the talk is of Premier League teams buying more foreign players. Less and less English players will be playing Premier League football at any standard if this carries on.

The first solution is that we introduce "caps" on foreign players, but firstly "money talks" and secondly european/international law probably forbids it. Secondly we need to improve our coaching acadamies, but they too are now filling up with foreign youngsters, and the success that Arsenal had with Fabregas, will only encourage that approach. So there needs to be some intervention there too, but "money" and" European law" probably also apply?

Still we did get further than both the winners and runners up of the 2006 competition!