World Cup diary: Progress? What progress? England were witless

The pundits will be doing some quick revisionism. Far from ‘making progress’ if not being “quite the finished article” (© everyone), England has performed less well than they did in the last tournament in which we took part and when everyone agreed we were shite. In fact so far this has been England’s worst ever performance in a world cup.

Again – wasted set-pieces, defensive torpor and vulnerability and a complete absence of wit in attack. These are fairly serious flaws, to which you can add another woeful performance from the ubiquitous Stevie G. I think it is a delusion to suggest that progress has been made. I notice some commentators already sticking the boot into Roy Hodgson, albeit in a comparably gentle manner (because he’s a decent bloke). I find it hard to blame him – he doesn’t have the players. And increasingly, Raheem Sterling is looking like just another Winger of the Week.

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