Filed under: Bolton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Premier League, Football, England Football
They were a golden generation of players estimated to be worth a total of £160 million-plus but Stuart Pearce is counting the cost of yet another England flop on the big stage.Barely a year after the senior side fluffed their lines so spectacularly at the World Cup, the under-21s committed suicide in the dying moments of the game against the Czech Republic to complete another dark day for English football.
Despite going into the competition as the No. 1 seeded team in Europe, the inquests have already started on another tournament where great expectations have been thoroughly unfulfilled.
Pearce did not manage a single victory at Euro 2011, despite possessing a squad containing such an undoubtedly talented crop of kids, and reckons England are cursed by a "perpetual cycle of tournament disappointments".
There are the other tired old criticisms being trotted out, including the fact the poor young things play too much football. But Pearce will not escape scrutiny in the post-mortem as his tactics and inability to mould the team ensured England fell way short.
He is set to sign a new contract extension with the FA shortly and will have to wait another two years to end the curse he so eloquently described.
Twenty six wins from 51 games suggests he is no failure but this was certainly a big chance missed. Privately, he will probably argue that his players underachieved and it was their responsibility to seize the moment once they crossed the white line.
Only Manchester United's Chris Smalling came out of the tournament with any credit and looked anywhere near good enough to make the step up to the senior squad.
Smalling's new United team-mate Phil Jones, the under-21 captain, was also decent but they were in an exclusive group of players to return home with their reputations either intact or enhanced.
New Liverpool signing Jordan Henderson's inexperience was evident while Fabrice Muamba's limitations were even more clear than they are with Bolton.
The two Daniels, Sturridge and Welbeck, flitted in and out of games and Tom Cleverley still has a way to go until he can make the grade at Old Trafford.
Many of the personnel that appeared at the competition will be ineligible for the next one so Pearce, once again, has to rebuild.
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