It's never a good time to be an England fan in the run-up to a major tournament.
Usually, newspaper columns and studio analysts are hyping the English players up no end, and heaping pressure on the national team to breeze through their group and make the semi-finals, yet when they crash out everyone seems to wonder what went wrong.
Take for example Harry Redknapp's comments on England's chances in France:
If we don’t win the Euros we ought to give up because it’s the best opportunity we’re going to have. It’s a really good group at the moment.
In what World should England be winning the Euros or giving up?
This view is not held by the majority of England fans either, as too many times have the Three Lions coasted through their qualifying group only to fall on their face on the big stage, and now we are seeing a conscious effort by those who aren't completely delusional like Redknapp to play down the hype.
You can actually see Gary Lineker stopping his guests on MOTD from mentioning Euro 2016 so as not to 'jinx' their boys almost every single week, because putting that sort of pressure on the likes of Dele Alli, Jamie Vardy, and Harry Kane is absolute madness.
Rio Ferdinand's views are much more reasonable, and while they may be viewed as harsh by those who insist the Premier League in the best in the world, he's actually doing England's players a big favour with his response to the question 'Can England win Euro 2016?':
No.
Based on what I have seen I don't think so.
If you got to go through the quarters and the semis and the final of this tournament and potentially win it, you've got to beat a France, you've got to beat a Germany and you've got to beat and/or a Spain. I don't think England will be able to do that, given what we have seen. I just don't think they are capable.
He's right. Despite this being probably the most exciting England squad in the last decade (in terms of their current performance for their clubs), they almost certainly won't have enough when it comes to the likes of Spain, and Germany (and Ireland, naturally, we'd have them).
In players like Alli, Vardy, Sterling, Kane, Stones and even Chris Smalling, their starting XI at the tournament will feature mostly of players who are not yet at the peak of their careers. You're usually saying the opposite about an England team. This means that England's inexperienced side probably won't win Euro 2016, but the experience could do them the world of good for the 2018 World Cup.
As we edge closer to the tournament, everyone who played football in England at some stage of their career will be asked about their chances of winning, and we'll get two responses. The 'Arry's of the World who think Engurlund invented football and it's time to take it back from them foreigners, or the people who see the bigger picture, the likes of Ferdinand, who can accept that you don't have to enter every tournament expecting to win it.
via DailyMail.co.uk
