Phil went straight from the Treble to a Far East tour. Then Super Cup, Community Shield, PL, Club World Cup, FA Cup, CL. Wins the league, then it's the Euros. Two young kids and a pregnant Mrs to think about too. Yeah we know how much they get paid, and it's honour to play for your country but players aren't robots - I think some of them are knackered and it shows. Only natural with the fixture congestion. Then they get thrown together with lads they mostly play with sporadically, with a different manager, in different positions, and the meedja expects them to play like they do for City or Arse. What's hilarious is pundits from previous, worse incarnations saying 'they don't know why England are playing like this'. England have pretty much always 'played like this' with a few notable exceptions. Much worse actually. Except now players like Foden are playing more games at a higher intensity than ever. Always nice to see England do well but I keep my expectations low. Just because we have the best league in the world doesn't mean we're going to be the best at tournament football. In fact the two things can and do collide.
