The weight of expectations on England to succeed at the European Championship caused a psychological breakdown in their humiliating round-of-16 exit to Iceland on Monday, Belgium defender Vincent Kompany said. An nearly immediate reply from Iceland, followed by a goal from Kolbeinn Sigthorsson sent a delirious Iceland team through to the last eight, where they will face France.
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It amounts to a damning indictment of the manager’s stewardship of England’s Euro 2016 campaign which ended in such embarrassing fashion in Nice. David Beckham’s red card at the 1998 World Cup came in a crucial defeat to Argentina.
“I don’t know what I’m doing here”, he said.
“He has to have the credentials and the ability to be able to do the job”.
Sky Bet spokesman Sandro Di Michele said: “There is a lack of obvious candidates to replace Roy Hodgson but Gareth Southgate has been working within the England set-up for some time now and has enjoyed success with the Under-21s”.
More recently, FA chairman Greg Dyke tasked a commission to uncover the reasons behind England’s consistent underachievement on the global stage, resulting in the publication of two wide-ranging reports.
“To wait a few months – if that is what we had to do – I think would be the right decision”.
“We will get a lot of flak and we deserve it”, said the Manchester City stopper.
“It doesn’t matter who is in charge – if the players aren’t good enough, we have a problem”.
An island nation whose population is a mere 332,000 (London alone has a population of over 9 million) managed to decisively beat one of the famous old footballing nations of the world.
“A new manager might get a response but the questions will remain”.
Given his seniority within such a young squad, Rooney may well have expected to be given a heads up as to what was to follow but was just as stunned as many of his team-mates when Hodgson announced his team to face Slovakia.
“I recently read Carlo Ancelotti’s book on football – and I am impressed with his man management, the way he conducts himself and how he gets the best out of players”.
And yesterday we reported that Shearer, who also captained the national side, has admitted he would like the chance to take over as his country’s boss.
“For me, there is far too much onus on academies, coaching and data”, he said.
“If a player has the natural talent, it will come through”.
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Glenn said the FA would have to understand why England always “seem brittle” at major tournaments, but he shied away from offering suggestions, twice stating that he was “not a football expert”.
