I love to hear all this anti Capello garbage. How come we heard absolutely nothing of that throughout the qualification campaign? Nobody was complaining about his English, or his tactics, then, but as soon as it turns to ratsh*t he's suddenly the sole reason. How fickle can some people be? Talk about scapegoating.
Could it simply be that the pampered and overpaid peacocks on the pitch are just not up to the standard required? They qualified from one of the softest groups they were ever liable to get, there was disgraceful conduct amongst certain squad members, and the media had done their usual job of whipping the whole country into a frenzy that England were bound to be at least good enough to reach the final, if not to actually win it.
We had such luminaries as Sir Bobby Charlton declaring that England were all set to repeat 1966, and I listened to one extremely well known Sky football pundit declare immediately prior to the Germany debacle that the Germans were, quote "inferior players". That's the biggest problem where England's concerned - people allow themselves to become deluded into discounting other nations as being somehow only there to make up the numbers against an all conquering England team. Then, when the wheels come off, all we have are recriminations and blame apportioning, except the real culprits are rarely villified - the players who, through no fault of their own, have been placed on a pedastal where they do not deserve to be.
England are, and have been for some years, just another average team.