A scapegoat must be found. Blame needs to be apportioned. Someone needs to accept responsibility for the shambolic displays of the England team. But where do you start? Should responsibility lie solely with man paid to manage the team? Has Fabio Capello done anything to justify his six million pound salary? Should an Italian even be in charge of our national team? Should we blame the officials who failed to spot that Frank Lampard’s shot bounced a yard over the goal line? Is it the fault of the Premier League for being played at a relentless pace which leaves our players exhausted before they pull on their England shirts? Are the media culpable? Do they misrepresent the ability of our footballers? Do they hold them in too high regard? Is the hotel the squad stayed in to blame? Were they bored? Is the coaching and youth development programme in England failing? Or maybe, and this is quite a radical idea, it’s the fault of the players. Perhaps they’re just not very good.
The details can and will be argued over in pubs and workplaces up and down the country. People will accuse the manager of failing to understand English footballers. But anyone who saw Capello on the bench knows that when it comes to management, his passionate bellowing and gesticulating will be very familiar to players like Wayne Rooney who have matured under the tutelage of David Moyes and Sir Alex Ferguson. He’s a man who has won six league titles in Italy and Spain and has waltzed away with the European Cup. He is a winner through and through. If he cannot inspire our national team, who can? Do we need an Englishman in charge? Or does the spectre of Steve McLaren still loom large over the Three Lions?

Capello has certainly made some strange decisions during the World Cup. He’s demonstrated a tactical inflexibity at times, insisting on a rigid 4-4-2 formation and tinkering with the personnel in that system rather than altering the system itself. But football matches are not won by systems and tactics. They are won by footballers. And the eleven players who took to the field in each game ought to have been good enough to beat the inferior players who lined up against them in the group stage.

On the pitch England lacked heart, bite and drive. The team was full of players who have captained their clubs in high-profile fixtures before – James, Gerrard, Barry, Terry and others. But they went missing, leading neither by example nor by talking to those around them. The lack of communication at the heart of England’s defence yesterday was absolutely remarkable and served only to underline how good a player Rio Ferdinand is – presumably he’s the player who usually organises the back four.
The players who lined up in midfield yesterday are all excellent players. But in terms of technique, we were drastically inferior to Muller, Ozil and Schweinsteiger. Steven Gerrard’s first touch in Bloemfontein generally saw the ball bounce three yards from his body, Wayne Rooney was trapping the ball further than i can kick it. Compare the ponderous, unambitious passing of Gareth Barry with the incisive, slick play of Ozil. Look at the instinctive interplay between Muller and Klose compared to that between Rooney and Defoe. Why can’t our players perform that way? Probably because the blood and thunder of the Premier League doesn’t reward skilful delicate play. Instead we value power, pace and commitment. We lionise Wayne Rooney for his aggressive, all-action style and he’s a great player. But is he of the same calibre as Lionel Messi? Of course not. Because if he was that kind of player he’d have been kicked out of English football long ago.

The sooner we come to realise that we’re not as good as we think we are, the better. The Germans recognised this, went back to the drawing board, invested in youth development, championed their Under 21s and are now reaping the rewards. Five of their championship winning team starred in their victory yesterday and maybe we should look to that example. It’s also worth noting that the Bundesliga has a winter break – although it’s highly unlikely that English football fans would tolerate such a thing. Perhaps a more pertinent fact is that there are less than 3000 UEFA approved football coaches in England compared to almost 35,000 in Germany. It seems that from the grassroots to the top level our children and footballers are not receiving the advice and coaching that they ought to be.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs, the scapegoats and the finger-pointing, it seems obvious to me that a new broom is required. The instinct is to change the manager, but who would we replace him with if he’s sacked or chooses to fall on his sword? Perhaps a more effective and radical solution would be to sweep out some of the generation of players which have failed so many times. Lose Gareth Barry and bring in Jack Rodwell. Drop Frank Lampard for Jack Wilshere. Make Joe Hart our goalkeeper for the next ten years. It might seem crazy to leave out Gerrard and Terry, but how many times can we watch the same players fail before we abandon them altogether.

For the next qualifying campaign we need to build a new team which can play, grow and learn together. The ‘old guard’ could still play a part – it would be a fool who dropped Rooney, Ferdinand or Ashley Cole. But we ought to supplement them with a smattering of young, vibrant players. Maybe the following team could take us to European glory. It certainly couldn’t be any worse than what we’ve seen in South Africa.

Hart; Richards, Ferdinand, Jagielka, A Cole; Wilshere, Huddlestone, Hargreaves, Rodwell, A Johnson; Rooney.