The beauty of football is that it's about opinions.
Thus, over the last 24 hours, we've heard arguments ranging from Wales are a tiny nation who've punched way above their weight, to we've been the worst team at the World Cup, Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey are finished and Rob Page is way out of his depth as manager.
Such are the emotions of the game. It's why we love it so much.
READ MORE: What the UK media are saying about Wales v England 'mismatch' as Gareth Bale has just seven touches
Like so many others I am concerned about Page describing Wales' first-half performance against England as 'exceptional, outstanding and excellent', because if he really believes that then the alarm bells should trigger. Particularly given the team have only won one game in 11 - albeit that was the never-to-be-forgotten victory over the Ukraine.
However, once a proper and thorough debrief into what went wrong out in Qatar is conducted in the coming days and weeks, the hope is the manager will learn from the harsh lessons of football just provided at this most elite of levels and start to put things right again for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Lots of fans are expressing strong opinions on Page, making observations on his tactics deployed, team selection and an over- cautious approach to the three Group B matches. Many Wales supporters covet an Osian Roberts, Steve Cooper, Craig Bellamy or a really top foreign coach at the helm, but the truth is it isn't going to be happening any time soon.
Page has been handed a four-year deal by the FA of Wales, whatever you think of that decision, and he'll be leading the side into battle for the Euros. In Page, the FAW hierarchy of chief executive Noel Mooney and president Steve Williams have placed their trust, and they'll expect him to deliver.
The really good news for Wales is that the Euro 2024 qualifying group they have been handed looks one of the least arduous in recent memory. Croatia, Armenia, Turkey and Latvia, with two teams to go through. Surely Wales can navigate their way through that, particularly with the Cardiff City Stadium factor in their favour.
How the team evolves during that campaign, which kicks off in March and finishes next November, remains to be seen and is key to everything.
There has been a welter of speculation we might have seen the last of Bale, Ramsey, Joe Allen and Wayne Hennessey, the very spine of the team, the Golden Generation leaders who have helped bring us Welsh football's halcyon days.
We'll have to see what happens with Allen and Hennessey, but I'm certainly not going to turn on Bale and Ramsey and nor should the Welsh public, either. Whatever we've seen over the last nine days out in Qatar, those two can still have major roles to play for their country, albeit it might be in a different capacity.
We have been utterly privileged to watch these two stellar talents in the red shirt for more than a decade. They are once-in-a- generation footballers who have actually come together in the same generation and who've been instrumental in the success achieved. Bale with his pace, power, panache, passion and goal-getting, Ramsey with mercurial playmaking skills that simply ooze class.
It is no coincidence, of course, that with Bale and Ramsey well below their best, Wales flopped at the World Cup. No two players make a team, but that duo make one more than most when it comes to the Wales national side.
They're also huge figures in the dressing room and how Page handles them moving forward will be key to everything.
Bale still has goals, free-kicks, penalties and moments of magic to his name and insists he wants to carry on playing for Wales. But time stands still for no-one, not even Gareth Bale. He'll turn 34 during the Euros - could he start to become a brilliant 30-minute impact player for Wales, the super-sub to beat any super-sub when defenders get tired in the closing moments of games?
A comedown for a player of that stature? Possibly. But Bale would still be playing a massive role for his country, it would mean his legs and body getting more of a rest, and he'd still be the leader inside the dressing room the younger players can look up to.
Better that, surely, than to suddenly ditch his proven match-turning brilliance completely, which many are claiming should happen. I can't understand that. Yes he's not the force of old, but it was Bale, remember, who won and then scored the penalty to secure a draw with the USA.
His legs aren't what they were, his body has taken a battering after coming into professional football at the age of 16, but write off Gareth Bale at your peril.
I, for one, hope he continues, even if everyone, including Bale and Page, needs to accept it might be in a less swashbuckling role from here on in.
Ramsey will be 32 next month. His game has always been based upon brilliant skills, mixed with wonderful athleticism and energy. Could he be persuaded by Page to drop to a deeper and more disciplined midfield role, a bit like Luka Modric with Croatia and Real Madrid, playmake in a different way and leave other young guns further forward to offer the craft and creativity?
These are calls for Page to make. But it's unrealistic, and indeed unfair on the players, for us to expect Bale and Ramsey to be in their Euro 2016 pomp any more. and to keep judging them on that. They still have key roles to play for Wales moving forward, the roles will likely just be a little different.
They'll still be needed by Wales and let's hope Hennessey can also find a club where he gets regular football in 2023. He has also been a colossus for his country, can play a role during the Euros, and we don't want the last memory to be one of a red card at the World Cup. Yes he's 35, but goalkeepers can go on and on at the highest level.
The manager does need to provide a balance though. Qualification for the Euros requires experience, but he also needs to start bringing through younger players and think of two years down the line in Germany. It is the cycle of football.
Cardiff City's Rubin Colwill is the obvious one. He's exciting, calm on the ball, possesses goal and creativity threat, looks to have a huge future ahead of him. It will help Wales enormously if the Bluebirds start picking him regularly as a No.10 post the World Cup, but thus far neither Steve Morison nor Mark Hudson have shown any inclination to do that.
Swansea City boss Russell Martin has given Ollie Cooper his head and the team have benefitted from that belief. Expect him to make the breakthrough for Wales next year, while huge things are expected of Fulham's teenage midfielder Luke Harris. Colwill's Cardiff colleague Isaak Davies is another capable of bursting onto the Wales scene.
There is a nucleus of a good team there still and the youngsters coming through can offer a fresh dimension and dynamism.
Neco Williams, Brennan Johnson and Harry Wilson each have talent. Chris Mepham was arguably Wales' best player at the World Cup, standing tall despite the side being under a constant bombardment because of tactics adopted. He is one who does leave Qatar with his stock improved.
Joe Rodon has done well for Wales. Ethan Ampadu can provide the legs required next to Ramsey in midfield, possibly with Colwill just ahead of them. That would be an exciting trio.
Kieffer Moore and Ben Davies are shoo-ins for the side, offering different strengths and presence at either end of the pitch.
None of the above, of course, are Bale and Ramsey. Those two, in differing ways, have been unique talents.
But with Bale and Ramsey perhaps adopting different roles moving forward, there is more than enough in that Wales side to finish in the top two among Croatia, Armenia, Turkey and Latvia.
Then, after those Euros in Germany, it really would be time for a re-set. By then Colwill, Cooper, Harris and other young guns will be two years further down the line and they'll be the ones with Wales' future in their hands.
These current Wales stars are a lot better than the performances at the World Cup would indicate. As the man at the top, the manager must clearly take responsibility for what's gone wrong. The onus is upon him is to look at the hard decisions that might need to be made and to deliver Euro qualification to justify the belief shown in him by the FAW hierarchy.
He might need to reassess his backroom team. It doesn't look a coincidence to me that results have dipped since Albert Stuivenberg, brought on board by Ryan Giggs, left his role as Welsh No.2. The Dutchman brought Manchester United and Arsenal gravitas to Wales and a differing thought process.
These are things Page and the FAW need to throw into the mix as they conduct their World Cup debrief and plot the right way forward.
There is a strong feeling the 3-0 thrashing by England, which followed disappointing showings versus Iran and the USA, spells the end of an era.
That doesn't necessarily need to be the case. However, Page needs to get Wales playing a whole lot better than we've seen over the last nine days.
READ NEXT:
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