England deservedly succumbed to defeat tonight and there's no complaints here. Credit to Croatia, from the moment they equalized there only looked like one winner. The difference, their midfield. They looked more assured on the ball and passed it better. We looked like we'd no ideas how to get back into the game once Croatia equalized and we were feeding on scraps.

What I can take from this world cup is that England are a very promising young team and we must build on this experience but the missing link is a Gascoigne type player in our midfield. Had we had a gazza in our team tonight it makes the difference between winning tournaments and losing in the semis.

This is hard to take but if we're honest we would've given our right arm to reach the final and give ourselves a shot at winning the tournament. Truth is we weren't quite good enough. However, the positives are that we have some quality footballers and we must build on this. The lads should accept the plaudits but please let's not have open top bus parade like Italia 90. If we deem these lads heroes and the press lords it up then how the feck are they ever going to go the extra mile and win owt? This defeat should make us more hungry to succeed. That's the mentality we must now adopt.

I just hope the next Paul Gascoigne is out there somewhere because that would fill the gap missing in this team. I'm optimistic for the future, roll on the next tournament