I skipped a review of the last England game, as I just wasn’t that motivated to write one.

Not being a professional journalist, I’m not paid by the word and nor do I have a deadline. And I simply didn’t care very much when England qualified for the knock-out stages. As an event it was unremarkable in that a supposed footballing powerhouse defeated a relative minnow.Unfortunately for England, they’d hardly presented themselves as a powerhouse, and the interest was if they’d actually be able to win or if they’d completely self-destruct and disappear without troubling the knock-out stages.

Expectations were thus low. Although the uncharitable might say realistic. However, England did manage to achieve victory, despite a very cagey end to the match, and a victory which allowed the nation to continue to revel in the delusion that England were potential contenders for the trophy. There simply wasn’t anything to write about.

No matter how you slice it, Germany were always the favourites. Forget the “experience” (of losing) being the equal to youthful German legs and ball control. England had played between competently and utter farce in their earlier games – which is hardly a solid foundation to take on our nemesis.

What was depressing was just how utterly poor England’s defence performed.

The campaign had so far been marked at the impotence of England’s attack. The defence hadn’t looked too bad, although I had previously said via Twitter that Terry just looked old and lumbering in the Slovenia game. This was against the common wisdom of the pundits. I’m sorry, but acting like a human shield doesn’t impress me. Pace, ball control and prediction impress me. If I could get a hundred thousand a week for being prepared to take a football to the face or body, then sign me up please. However, I think my perceptions were confirmed by this game. Even to a non-football fan such as myself, it was obvious that the defence was just horrific and beyond explanation – the Germans could almost take a shot on goal at will on the counter-attack.

Lampard’s disallowed goal was of course unfair. It allowed the little-Englander in the nation to rise up in indignation. It’s likely that 2-2 would have changed the poise of the match, but equally it was unlikely to have changed the end result. England simply couldn’t cope with the German attack. The Germans simply backed off in the last twenty minutes and avoided yellow cards, injuries and other potential impediments to a harder match down the road. England were just poor. The end scoreline was more flattering that it should have been.

It’s been amusing in the days since this game – this write-up has been posted some days after – to watch the knives come out for this bunch of under-performers and their very, very, very highly-paid manager.As I said in an earlier commentary, I don’t see how that sort of money is justified. It’s pretty obvious to the man in the pub, give or take five players out of a squad of twenty-two, just which players should have been taken and which team should have played, and pretty much in what formation. This all looks like a very nice jolly for Capello to me.

It is time to junk all the players and start again. They obviously are either on the wrong side of their careers or are just serial under-achievers, who choke on international pressure.

To finish my football commentary career: “You don’t win anything with kids”. Well, kids would have done better than this rabble. Watch the Germans – they’ve got as good a chance as anyone to win it, hunger, speed, the idealism of youth. Against lumbering experience, that’s going to win every time.