I really don't get all the hate for England. They're a fair and gracious team, and on balance England have always fielded fair and gracious teams. I'm disappointed they didn't get past their group.
The whole footballing ethos of the country is stuck in a timewarp, it's like they think that the same methods that brought them success in 1966 will still work today.
The game has moved on, honest grafters with little to no technical ability won't get the job done.
Most of the time England struggle to do basic things like stringing a few passes together so playing like the top international sides is simply beyond them. Holland have Total Football, Spain has Tiki Taka.....England have Crappy Crappy.
England fans have been quick to mock Spain's demise but the only time they've got anywhere close to the quality of football played by Spain and Barcelona in recent years is on a videogame.
The whole obsession with fair play and being dignified in defeat is also a factor in why they can't progress in the right direction.
Every successful team bends the rules to some degree and they also have a strong team spirit, England tend to fold under the first bit of pressure and seem to revel in their failures....Steven Gerrard actually said he was proud of their performance against Italy, even though they lost
If that negative mentality had been commonplace during WW2 we'd now be part of Germany.
On top of all that there's the ridiculous hype from the English media and the overblown sense of entitlement from some of the fans, many of whom spend more time being abusive about certain players because of the club they play for than actually getting behind the national team.
The cycle has been repeating itself for so long now that it's beyond tiresome. I wrote them off as a lost cause over a decade ago.
Football is a beautiful game, but you wouldn't think so watching England.
I don't expect to see him in the next match. Why isn't El Shaarawy in the squad? Wasn't he performing well for Milan or is he injured?
