Sorry Triz - National teams from other countries that fail get just as much stick from the press and the people as our guys do; in fact much worse in some countries (have a look at the Italian press)- the fear of failure that you describe really emanates from the players' lack of belief in their ability to succeed which in turn is where the manager and his team should make the difference. The players who represented England in this competition are not lacking in ability but they did seem to lack self belief when playing for their country. The manager of a national team cannot make a real difference in any players footballing skills - this is what clubs do. The national manager's task is to take the best resources available to him, decide how these resources can be best employed and then ensure that the players BELIEVE that the plan is executable, enjoyable and likely to succeed. I would suggest that we have not had a manager capable of doing this for many, many years.