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Why are England such an over-rated and under-performing team? Unfortunately, it's too simplistic to provide just one answer. Being a fan is such a frustration as we are not only always ultimately disappointed, but always in a predictable way. Let's try and list a few ideas here, and build the debate from there.

1) Expectation - we always expect too much, be it as fans, the media, a nation, consumers, at least on a performance vs potential basis. Maybe it's the 'island race' mentality, perhaps with some old colonialism thrown in, with some belief/arrogance about having the self-called 'best league in the world' gives us the right to expect that because we (allegedly) invented the game, no-one should jolly well beat us?

2) Arrogance - who else but our 'stars' would call themselves the 'golden generation'?

3) Celebrity - how many of our squad from World Cup 2006 had books out last Summer, expecting to fill them with stories of success?

4) Spin - the whole England experience is becoming like a hybrid of politics & reality TV; if winning matches were based on soundbites, PR, spin, column inches & waffle we would be World Champions. Sadly though, our players, manager & officials seemingly forget all that matters is what's on the pitch. I don't care that our manager has took numerous courses in PR from Max Clifford, our captain talks complete tripe, and any negativity is blamed on 'the press' - if we played well, there would no problem at all.

5) Manager - as always, the FA debacle behind picking the manager is coming home to roost. In typical style, better managers such as O'Neill, Hiddink & Scolari were all 'in the running' yet we plumped for a mediocre number two to an expensive flop. Sven, for all his faults, at least got us to major tournaments, but there are serious doubts if my Summer holiday next year won't be to Austria & Switzerland after all. Football conventional wisdom decrees that 'number twos' don't become good managers, and it's this point above all others that stands out. Although Sven was the least confrontational of all managers, and let a cabal of big players undermine his authority, McLaren was never going to be able to resolve that. Things have slumped so much that Sven's tenure looks positively inspirational in terms of effort, tactics and ineptitude.

6) Tactics - this subject alone needs a separate thread, but to skim the surface, you can't have players playing out of position at international level. Also, you need sound tactics that they understand,

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