http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,172-1821996,00.html

As for Eriksson’s sins – playing deep, passing square, that fits with the talent in the side. England do not have a playmaker or creative genius – the closest England have to that is Beckham’s crosses. Nor do they have any nimble or cultured forwards to exploit that kind of ball. Gerrard’s forward passing is mediocre by continental standards. Better to rely on consolidating the ball in midfield, relying on the running and upper-body strength of Lampard and Rooney to take on players, win battles in the air, than try to play like, say, Arsenal.

You are right that Eriksson’s sense on substitutions and positioning can go awry at times. I would say the bigger problem is his reluctance to confront or drop some of his superstars (e.g. Beckham, when he was playing badly last year), but then I think he’s worried of “losing the dressing room” like Keegan did. It’s partly his fault, but the players themselves should shoulder some of the blame – many of them look like they couldn’t be arsed playing for their country. Eriksson’s calm and detached demeanour makes him an easy scapegoat for the team’s lack of passion (in contrast, Arsene Wenger’s sides get vilified for their poor discipline) but the underlying problem with this England side goes much further than him.

I’ve no illusions that England have ever been anything other than a second-tier team (although I think your comparisons with Belgium and Poland are a bit off – Portugal and especially Spain might be more obvious). I don’t problem with Sven’s level of “passion” (oooh-errr). I think he did an excellent job changing the attitude and approach of the whole England set-up, and it’d be a great shame if his successor undid any of that. But England’s performances have been getting progressively worse for over a long time now, without any sign that Sven (and McLaren and the rest of the staff) know how to improve them – or even that they know there’s a problem.

Players never deliver performances that are anywhere near the quality they regularly produce for their clubs. He’s tactically naive and horribly defensive – players sitting far too deep, the default ball being square or backwards, huge gaps between midfield and the strikers. His substitutions in competitive matches are somehow even more baffling than his ones in friendlies – he went completely to pieces after Beckham was sent off the other day. The compulsion to play players out of position seems almost pathological.

It’s not a question of comparing current England performances to some mythic golden age. It’s just that this team should not have to be anywhere near this shit.

(But then, I seem to have watched a different game from everybody else, because I keep reading that Peter Crouch was the best player on the pitch, which certainly didn’t happen in the game I watched…)

Interestingly, I read an analysis of the England cricket success which attributed part of it to the fact that the players were practicing with the national team more often, and away from their county sides. I was interested to then read this, where Arsene Wenger complains about international matches getting in the way of the team business.