[BaggieSteve]

I honestly think that, with this squad of players, England have done the best they could. The only two teams we comprehensively beat were an abject Panama and a dour, uninspiring Sweden. When we came up against teams that had that spark of flair and creativity, most notably Belgium and Croatia, we were greatly lacking. We have no players that are even close to De Bruyne, Hazard, Modric and Racitic. I appreciate these are exceptional footballers but Colombia and, at times, Tunisia exceeded us in their technical skill. We have midfielders who, in the words of our much lamented previous coach, work aard and will play within a structure but don't have that spark that will change a game out of nothing. Let's be honest, in watching our games in this tournament, most is got our hopes up when we got a corner or free kick as the likeliest source of a goal.

This is not a criticism of Southgate, I think he did a very good job with what he had; it's just that what he had wasn't good enough. By and large, PL midfields tend to be stocked by creative foreign players supported by hard working English/British yeomen. Can't help thinking that, as long as that continues, England will be destined to be continued plucky losers