Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson assumes full responsability for England’s failure at the World Cup. The British press really points all of the blame.

“End of an error” was the Sun’s headline as it reflected on a third successive quarter-final defeat during Eriksson’s time at the helm. “Eriksson’s regime,” argued The Times, “will be forever stamped ‘underachieved’.”

Criticism of Eriksson centred on his decision to include just four strikers – one of them Theo Walcott – in his FIFA World Cup squad and the subsequent tactical tinkering which culminated in Wayne Rooney playing in an unfamiliar role as a lone striker.

“England had far more flair in Portugal two years ago. The team started off badly against Paraguay at the World Cup and Eriksson could not make any decisive improvement,” lamented the Guardian. The same paper concluded: “His inability to get Englishmen to play football together with a combination of spontaneity and consistency means that after its promising start, the Eriksson era must on balance be accounted a failure.”

Look back on England-Portugal

The Daily Mirror was blunter in its assessment: “The simple, brutal truth is that Eriksson has taken £20million over five and a half years to make England exactly what they would have been for a fraction of the price… It ended as it always does, with England losing at the last-eight stage to the first half-decent side they played, on penalties.”

It was the team’s failings from the penalty spot that the Daily Telegraph pondered as it said: “England’s inability to hold their nerve when wound up by opponents, and then when walking up for penalties, provides the reason behind another premature tournament exit… Portugal’s goalkeeper (Ricardo) was good but England’s spot-kicks were really poor, barring one from (Owen) Hargreaves, the England international educated in Germany.”

Writing in the same paper, Alan Ball, one of England’s 1966 heroes, turned the microscope on the five “potentially world-class performers” in Eriksson’s squad – David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney – and concluded: “All but Ferdinand, who could be proud of his displays, fell short.”

In the case of Rooney, much of the reaction to his red card focused on the role of his Manchester United colleague Cristiano Ronaldo. He raced over to confront the England player after his clash with Ricardo Carvalho and was caught on camera winking at the Portuguese bench after Rooney’s dismissal.

The Times offered the full range of English arguments – including that “Rooney was more fouled against than fouling, that he was not actually aiming at Carvalho’s crotch, that Cristiano Ronaldo’s intervention was unforgivable” - but reached the conclusion: “The fact is that Rooney lost control. He lost his temper on the pitch and got sent off.”

While England fans continue to pick over the bones of events in Gelsenkirchen, the papers have also started looking ahead to the future post-Eriksson. New coach Steve McClaren will be needing a new captain following David Beckham’s resignation as skipper and the favourites to take over the armband are Steven Gerrard and John Terry. “Captain Terry” declared the Mirror although no decision will be forthcoming until the dust has truly settled on this latest English disappointment.

Source: WCoffsite