Think people read too much into the Spain game, and wanted more out of it. If we'd have lost, its expected and back to the drawing board. We won, so now most people complain about how we won and throw up stats to say "its meaningless, lucky, boring etc".
There seems to be more people upset that we dont play like Spain or Holland or France. Well...we never have and never will do. If Mourinho managed England we'd still be labelled boring, cynical, defensive..but if the result is there, that's all that matters.
We played to our strengths against Spain. Defence and set-pieces. Italy did that for years with a winning mentality to boot and won a fair few World Cups. Not saying thats gonna be us, but its a valid argument for all the backlash that's happened after the match last night.
A big problem with the national team is that lack of the winning mentality. Players have been dropped, recalled, not played, played out of position to accommodate "star" names etc and we've never built a footballing foundation over a number of years. A large chunk of those players doubt themselves and dont have the will to win be in playing silky football, ala Spain, or doing it the dirty way like Italy.
Id also say, we choke big time at tournaments because we dont want to lose..and lose anyway. That mentality changes despite how the team plays, it'll work.
Also, the big test isnt against the better sides, but battering the lesser sides. Champagne footy against them and win, do what you can to win against the better sides.
