http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7146952.stm

He’ll ask the players why they under-achieved. Well, I can tell him that, because most are lazy and under prepared against “inferior” opposition.

Aside from that, the previous management have often taken a negative approach to the game, a prospect I don’t see improving with an Italian coach as they do tend to be more defensively minded.

Furthermore, outside of the international squad, the infrastructure to build good prospects up to the required level to play first team premiership and then international football simply isn’t there. It’s cheaper to buy a tested and solid player from abroad than one from a lower division English side. As such the players come in from abroad and the younger players don’t get a chance to improve with top quality games. Having a limit on the amount of foreign players would help, as would a salary cap, but these will never happen whilst the FA and the Premier league continue to bleat on about the Premiership being the best league in the world.