England no longer expects as club failures in Europe dulls expectation

Not after the six European ties that culminated in last night’s visit to Galatasaray by Chelsea resulted in four defeats, no wins, and just a solitary Fernando Torres goal scored.

Manchester United’s turgid 2-0 defeat to Olympiacos was the nadir, but the ease with which both Manchester City and Arsenal were swept aside on home soil in the Champions League surely put paid to any suggestions that the Premier League is the best in the world.

For a country that in five years from 2005 provided no less than six Champions League finalists, the travails of the past seven days in Europe represent a spectacular fall from grace.

Mind, we should be used to it with England’s international prospects having suffered a similar nose-dive in recent years. Sven Goran Eriksson’s reign as manager may have proved a let-down but at least under the Swede the Three Lions went into major tournaments believing success could be theirs and a quarter-final appearance was seen as the very minimum that was acceptable.

Now, England sport the look of a team just glad to have qualified and anything else is a bonus.

The draw for this year’s World Cup is admittedly a tough one with Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica awaiting Roy Hodgson’s men in Brazil. But was there really any need for Greg Dyke, the Football Association’s chairman, to make a cut-throat gesture at last December’s draw as England’s opponents were confirmed?

At a stroke, Dyke not only seemed to write off any chance of England progressing but he also gave Hodgson a get-out clause in case the Three Lions fail to escape a tournament group for the first time since 1958.

With such negativity at the top, it is to the supporters’ credit that they are still willing to spend thousands of pounds on following England to Brazil in June. But that is exactly what the fans are doing, with FIFA recently revealing that 51,222 tickets for the World Cup have been sold to English fans.

Only the USA (125,465), Colombia (60,231), Germany (55,666) and Argentina (53,809) have bought more, while England also boast one of only two regular group games that have already been declared sold out.

That is the June 14 opener against Italy in the Amazonian capital of Manaus and the planning for that game will be stepped up at 3pm tomorrow when Hodgson names his squad for next Wednesday’s Wembley friendly against Denmark.

Around 30 names are expected to be included ahead of what will be England’s last game before Hodgson names his provisional 30-man squad for the World Cup on May 13. That will then be whittled down to 23 after the May 30 friendly clash with Peru at Wembley.

The England manager has spent the opening weeks of 2014 touring Premier League stadia, as have his assistant Ray Lewington and coach Gary Neville.

Publicly, the message has been that there are plenty of places on the plane to Brazil still up for grabs. In reality, however, surely as many as 18 names can be inked in barring injury.

The three goalkeepers, for instance, seem to pick themselves with Joe Hart likely to be backed up by Ben Foster and John Ruddy. Gary Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Phil Jones, Leighton Baines, Glen Johnson and Kyle Walker also seem similarly certain of being in Brazil this summer, while captain Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Jack Wilshere, Michael Carrick, James Milner and Andros Townsend must surely know that any holidays will have to be taken in July. Moving up front, the trio of Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge and Danny Welbeck are the men who Hodgson believes can supply the necessary goals.

That leaves just five up for grabs, which in terms of giving the squad balance are likely to be filled by two defenders, two midfielders and another striker.

The latter seems a straight fight between Ricky Lambert and Andy Carroll, with the West Ham man’s impressive return to form making a strong case.

Moving into midfield, Theo Walcott’s absence means Hodgson needs pace out wide to supplement Townsend, who played such a decisive role in the final couple of qualifiers that he has to go.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s return to fitness, therefore, has been timely, though Raheem Sterling’s form at Liverpool makes the teenager another option along with Wilfred Zaha.

Adam Lallana’s continued good form in the league should see the final place go to the Southampton man, which will mean disappointment for Jordan Henderson and Ross Barkley. As for the defence, Ashley Cole faces a straight scrap with Luke Shaw as back-up to Baines, while Chris Smalling will get in by default due to the absence of John Terry.

Whether such a squad can repair the damage of this week’s European failures remains to be seen but, one thing is for certain, they can’t do any worse than the Premier League’s big guns.