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English football players are not as technically gifted as those from Brazil, Argentina, France, or Italy.

They do however have some world class players, and players who are brought up playing in the high tempo environment of the English Premier League.

We've seen in recent years (and also going back to the Seventies and Eighties) that English club teams have been very successful against high quality continental opposition. Some of the factors that have contributed to this success are the high tempo that teams such as Man Utd employ and the never-say-die attitude.

Here are my suggestions as to how England should look to succeed:

1) Play high tempo game. Don't allow lesser teams to retain the ball. Equally, put pressure on the top teams when they have the ball. Even good players make mistakes when defenders are breathing down their necks.

2) Decide upon a formation and stick with it. Players need to know what's expected of them, especially where a reserve is asked to slot in.

3) Choose players in their natural position. Too often England have tried to shoehorn their perceived best eleven players into the team, by forcing one or more of them to play in unaccustomed positions.

4) Reduce size of domestic league. A controversial one, but it's not ideal to have players like Terry, Ferdinand, and Gerrard playing 50 games per season.

5) Work on coaching at school and youth level. Something needs to be done to make up the technical quality deficit. My big bug bear is players who can't use their other foot.

6) Media and fan support. The English media (and sometimes their fans) crucify the manager and players as soon as one bad result (or performance) occurs. This creates fear and leads to conservatism.

Learn more about this author, Simon Wright.
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