Ruud Gullit has pinned the blame for England’s World Cup failure on the fact the current crop of Three Lions stars don’t have any winning role models.
The Dutch legend also reckons Gareth Southgate ’s stars are hindered by the number of overseas players playing in key positions within Premier League teams.
He said: “What is fascinating at the top level in a World Cup is that every generation must have an example.
“England has been prematurely eliminated at this tournament despite a wonderful performance against France. They really played well but again they could not survive. I talked about this with other former players here in Qatar, like Peter Schmeichel, John Terry and Marcel Desailly.
“Desailly states that the French players have an example of a team that could win prizes and he is right. Today’s generation at England never experienced 1966 and at all previous tournaments saw only penalty shootouts that failed.
“Also, with the Premier League, England has the most beautiful and biggest league in the world, but the five biggest clubs do not have English internationals playing in the most crucial positions.
“That is killing the national team — there should be England players there, as they then get used to winning big trophies all the time. You win more with the bigger clubs."
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“Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford plays at Everton, not a top-five club. Of the two central defenders, Harry Maguire is on the bench at Manchester United.
“ John Stones does play at Manchester City but not always. Declan Rice, the controlling midfielder, plays at West Ham United and Harry Kane is a striker at Tottenham, where he has a team that has not won a trophy for years. That is England’s biggest problem. The team always plays well, but cannot make the final step.”
Typically, Gullit pulled no punches when it came to his own country as well, after watching them bow out to Argentina in the quarter-finals.
He added: “Louis van Gaal ditched the entire style of play by switching to defensive football. Nobody understood what he was doing.
“The most worrying and painful thing is that nobody talks about my country in the World Cup anymore. We used to entertain fans with attacking football, but here Van Gaal thought it was more important to get along nicely.
“He let other nations dictate the play and just sat back and let us defend. It was the world upside down for the Dutch. Not what we are about and what every player learnt.
“You know what our legacy in this World Cup is? One lousy free-kick, which people thought was great. That is it. Nothing else. The extra-time against Argentina was good, but in it we went back again instead of finishing the job.”
