Out of Europe

The Euros crisis eh?

What a bunch of clueless prima donnas, transparently incapable of performing for the England shirt.

It shouldn't have been a surprise - England were trying to record their first knock out win in a European Championship held outside of England.

Iceland had a game plan and executed it well. Their 2nd goal was well worked and well taken, even if Head and Shoulders should probably have saved it. Not the first time he's gone limp wristed and failed to get enough on a shot.

I smirked at Glenn Hoddle saying words to the effect that Iceland were playing like a 1980s team and, because our players hadn't got experience of that from the Premier League, they didn't know how to defend against it. You know, things like defending long throw ins, winning 2nd ball, that sort of stuff. C'mon, basically schoolboy stuff! It's not as if they didn't know what was coming.

Martin Samuel made the point a few months ago that all the Premier League teams now play the same way. They all think they can be Barcelona, or at least Arsenal. And so it's boring. If you put them in plain shirts you wouldn't be able to tell which team was which.

And there's been some remarkably snobby comments about the way Iceland play. It's a perfectly legitimate way of playing and, for me, they were better to watch than England tonight. Desire, determination, commitment, some tremendous challenges especially in the air, calm under pressure, working for each other. A team playing a team game.

The gloom over much of England has just deepened. Still it might cheer the Scots up. And maybe Wales can continue to perform and get through against Belgium.

Maybe Dave can offer Roy Hodgson a resignation speech writer.

Oh, he's on now - it seems like he had one ready written!