THE English football team return from the recent World Cup, amid predictions of a golden future ahead.

England will obviously be one of the favourites to win the 2020 European Championships.

However in reality, England suffered three defeats in Russia – hardly the stuff of potential major winners. Apart from our semi-final exit to Croatia, we lost twice to Belgium, albeit a dead group rubber, and the meaningless play-off for third place.

It is one thing to rollover poor teams like Panama, but as soon as we face decent sides, that can actually pass the ball, we virtually crumble.

Until England resolve that problem, fourth place could be the best that we hope for.

Scratch below the surface and it was just another failure. Basically, England need to be more ruthless when it really matters.

Carl Brunskill, Barnard Castle