England - an opinion from Spain

There is aproblem with the English midfield players. You call too many of your players "world class" when they are not. It says everything that the best England player this tournament was probably John Terry and your back four looked good. It also says a lot that the same John Terry is probably the best passer you have in the team, and with both feet!

Steven Gerrard, who is rated so highly by the whole of England, is all power and thrust but he has no subtlety, no finesse, and more importantly, he won't pass the ball 2 metres when he can pass it 50. Why? Surely you must have worked out by now that even if the pass is a perfect one, the player receiving it will be isolated and probably lose it.

Scott Parker, another underperformer. He went missing from your midfield in each of the games you played. Running around and filling holes is not enough at this level as good players just pass around you. No, what you need is to pass around the opposition players. Unfortunately, it seems that Parker is incapable of passing the ball.

Then your wide players. Milner! There should be a new word in the English dictionary for mediocre - "milner". Last night he was one of your better players but in these wide areas you need creativity and flair. And Ashley Young, when the English start accusing 'those cheating foreigners' of diving, Mr. Young is as cheating as they come. It would be alright if he actually did something with the ball but he was absolutely awful. I can't believe the manager went with the same wide players for every match when they were truly awful from the first match!

I think it would be unfair to criticise Welbeck too much as he is a young player but I think there must be better options than him. He scored a fabulous goal but he was anonymous in the other games. And Rooney, if he isn't match fit, don't play him!

The truth is that your midfiled cannot control a game. They have no flair, no creativity and can't pass. Not only can they not pass, they don't move into space. Watch the better sides, when a player has the ball, they mover TOWARDS the player and ball, offering an easy pass. When Lescott or Terry have the ball, Gerrard and Parker may AWAY FROM the ball, offering nothing.

To change this, you need to educate players but more important, managers. In Erikson, Capello and Hodgson, England looked to the old school when the rest of the world is looking to the new dynamic managers. My bet is that the English will be moaning about bad luck with penalties, sat in pubs saying what a wonderful player Gerrard is and how the premier league is wonderful (one out of three!) Some things will never change!