Dele Alli was one of the guys that was shown up the most throughout the tournament. Completely ineffective, well and truly out of his depth. Cannot for the life of me understand why he wasn't subbed in any of the 3 games he started, completed the 90 in all of them despite being just about the worst player on the pitch. Baffling.
The bottom line for me is, yes, they could and should have been better set out as a team; the midfield in particular was just not something I can take seriously; an abomination, but you don't get anywhere if you've got the quality of players that England have.
Not a single player, not one, would get anywhere near Germany's team. And the vast majority wouldn't get in the squad either. That's the reality. It's time to stop rating these players as highly as we do. 5 players in the starting XI play for Tottenham, that's not me poking fun, it's an indictment of the quality available to pick from. Hodgson is an over-the-hill, never any good coach, but that's largely the case with all national sides; international football is not the pinnacle for players or coaches anymore.
You can argue this has nothing to do with the Premier League, but it does. There are no top clubs in England right now, not a single one, there aren't English players playing with and learning from the best foreign players, going up against the best teams in Europe. Instead we have mediocre English players playing with mediocre foreign players thinking they're something special because they're challenging for the Premier League.
Wenger was right when he said foreign players aren't damaging to English football, having the best players from around the world and the biggest clubs is what dragged the standard up across the board. It forces everyone to be better. Instead now we have mediocrity everywhere.
