England are not good enough. Let’s accept the reality.

I thought long and hard about whether to right some sort of analysis of England’s performance in the 0-0 draw with Montenegro. I, along with many others, had pretty much done the subject to death after the World Cup fiasco. In the end I decided that I would write about them just once more and try to put everything into perspective once and for all.

Disaster

In terms of qualification the 0-0 draw was certainly not a disaster. Seven points from three games is fine and the sensible money would still be on England to make it to Euro 2012. The manager says he is a fighter and is going nowhere and the FA can’t afford to pay him off, so Capello will be in charge and will take us to the tournament in two years time.

Now is the time to make it absolutely clear. England will not win that tournament. Whatever happens in the rest of the qualifiers, the team will remain an average European team, some way below the top teams. If I, or any other writers, get carried away over the next two years and tell you that England have a chance, ignore me and them. They don’t.

Mugs

Montenegro were well organised and had won their three previous games without conceding a goal. They were no mugs. However, they are ranked below Burkino Faso by FIFA, have a population the same size as the population of the city of Leeds and have only been playing international football as a country for four years. If England truly believe they are one of the top nations, then a game against them at home is a must win.

After the game, Capello talked about the fact that the referee hadn’t added on enough time, England should have had a penalty and we created enough chances but just couldn’t score.

Trust

Let’s take those points one at a time. The referee added on three minutes at the end of the game and Fabio, trust me, everyone else in the world was grateful it wasn’t longer! To make such a point after such a game is simply embarrassing. Let’s move on. It is true that England should have had a penalty, however, to rely on that one poor decision as a reason for not winning is a little desperate. The question of whether England created enough chances is a moot point. They had over 65% of the possession and hit the target just six times in the ninety-three minutes. Montenegro striking the bar was by far the closest either side came to scoring.

Capello may also point to the fact that he was missing big players through injury. I struggle to see this as much of an issue as well. I assume he was referring to John Terry and Frank Lampard. Well, in a game in which the opposition had less than 35% of the possession and didn’t manage a shot on target, Terry was hardly missed. Lampard is thirty-two years old and has played eighty-three times for England achieving absolutely nothing.

Deemed

He could also point to Theo Walcott and Darren Bent, but let us not forget these two were not deemed good enough by Capello to make the trip to South Africa just a few months ago.

The players on the field were really not far away from Fabio Capello’s first choice England team. I’m afraid that individually and as a team, they are simply not good enough to be regarded as one of the best in the World or in Europe.

Potential

Joe Hart is a very good goalkeeper and has the potential to be great. He is excused from the criticism on the basis that he didn’t touch the ball in the game.

If Glen Johnson is the best right back in England then things are even worse than we thought. He has never been a great defender although he can be dangerous going forward. He is woefully out of form. Ashley Cole, thirty years old, eighty-five caps, achieved nothing. Rio Ferdinand, thirty-one years old, seventy-eight caps, achieved nothing. Joleon Lescott. Reserve player. Not good enough.

Talented

Adam Johnson is a really talented player who could go on to have a great international career. At times on Tuesday he looked good but at other times he seemed to be doing a Forest Gump impression, running off the end of the pitch unless someone told him stop. Run Adam, run.

Ashley Young is still regarded as a promising player. He is twenty-five years old. In countries like Germany that would make him a veteran!

Terrible

Gareth Barry was terrible. To think that Rafa Benitez was prepared to let Xabi Alonso go because he thought that Barry was the better bet. That says a lot about Benitez.

Steve Gerrard is a great player, but he is now thirty years old and in his eighty-eight games for England he has driven them on to win bugger all!

Struggle

Peter Crouch is a decent substitute to bring on in the Premier League but he is not an international striker. Wayne Rooney is a great player, but at the moment he would struggle to make an impression in my son’s under sixteen side.

So there we have it. The only players I would persist with are Joe Hart, Adam Johnson and, if he regains some form, Wayne Rooney. I would play James Milner and Theo Walcott if they were fit and there is probably a place for Bent and Defoe. Other than that Capello needs to go right back to the drawing board if we are to have any chance at all at the 2014 World Cup. The 2012 Euros are already a write-off.

The problem is that Capello will stick with what he knows and continue to hope for the odd penalty and for referees to add on enough time at the end of the game.