England at crossroads

You can either be critical, point to a limited amount of possession in every game, difficulties endured against France, a lead thrown away against Sweden, struggles against Ukraine and ultimately outplayed by Italy.

There is another equally extreme narrative; given he was afforded so little time to prepare, Roy Hodgson worked wonders to win a group and maintained team discipline to such an extent England was still in there scrapping until the final two rounds of penalties in its quarter-final.

Half-full or half-empty?

Judgement must wait until Hodgson has a chance to build on what was achieved in Ukraine.

England, routinely, was solid. It maintained team shape, did what they were asked. Given expectations were so low, they exceeded them by winning their group.

Defeat on penalties to one of the world's superpowers was no disgrace, even if the one-sided manner of the game that preceded that shoot-out caught most people by surprise.

In Danny Welbeck, Hodgson pushed forward a pretty decent centre-forward. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was given his first taste of what could be many outings on the international arena. Even Andy Carroll was good in patches.

There has to be more though. And this has to come despite the obvious flaws in the English game that mean even our top players struggle with the basic elements of international football.

Take John Terry for example.

To this observer, Terry was England's player of the tournament. Both against Ukraine and Italy, the Chelsea skipper was outstanding, throwing himself into tackles in trademark style, making block after block to prevent England's goal being breached.

Ukraine's 'goal that never was' would have been awarded if Terry had not shown the foresight to get back and hook clear.

This wholehearted defensive style is quite thrilling. It underlines why Terry is such a crowd favourite at Chelsea and why he has been one of the Premier League's top men for a decade.

But Terry also lacks pace. It is possibly why England defended from such deep positions against Italy, which in turn created the space Andrea Pirlo revelled in.

In an era where Barcelona can win a Champions League with Javier Mascherano in the heart of their defence, is the era of 'typical' English defending at an end too, and if so, is Terry surplus to requirements?

It sounds bizarre. And the argument feels silly.

Yet to avoid it would be to dismiss the evidence of a game that has marched inexorably towards minimal contact.

Rio Ferdinand once went an entire season at Manchester United without making a tackle. Anticipation has always been one of the hallmarks of his game.

By excluding Ferdinand from his summer plans, Hodgson seemed to be calling time on the defender's England career. At 33, that is probably the right call.

But he is the template Hodgson should be looking for. And the problem is we have few who fit it.

They are about. Vincent Kompany for a start. Thomas Vermaelen, David Luiz for that matter. None of them are English though.

We have Gary Cahill to an extent, Joleon Lescott, Phil Jagielka. Chris Smalling is improving but still young, Phil Jones younger still and has key areas of his game that need to be worked on for all his undoubted promise.

However, it is vital for Hodgson to get this right.

That England's most-played pass against Italy was Joe Hart to Carroll was a damning indictment of the chronic lack of technique which the Football Association are keen to use St George's Park as the catalyst to sort out.

Hodgson cannot wait for the coaches to be taught how to coach though.

He has two years. For, providing they qualify, if England get to Brazil for the next World Cup and think Hart to Carroll is going to bring them any joy, they might as well save the air fare.

England are not going to win the 2014 World Cup.

No European team has ever lifted the greatest prize on South American soil and the brutal truth is England are not good enough to break that record.

What we can expect is to make a contribution, give a decent showing. Impress a few people and offer hope for Euro 2016 in France.

Only then can we really know whether these European Championships were a bright beginning, or a pretty limited end.