Former England winger John Barnes believes expectations of Steve McClaren's side are too great and has called for a "humble" assessment of how good they really are.
England played out a bitterly disappointing goalless draw with Israel last night to put another dent in their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008.
They now trail Group E leaders Croatia by five points and while Barnes is confident they will book their place in Austria and Switzerland, he insists too much is demanded of the players.
"England are not the best team in the Europe or the world," he said.
"Moving in the right direction is getting consistency and regularly qualifying for competitions. I think England will qualify for Euro 2008.
"Of course, once we do qualify people will say we're going to win the competition and if we don't then it all be doom and gloom.
"The expectancy has to be more realistic. What England should be doing is getting to the latter stages of the World Cup, which they have been doing.
"But we need a humble approach to how good we really are."
Barnes maintains that England were frustrated by Israel's negative gameplan and fears they do not have the creativity to unlock sides intent on defending.
"For lesser teams the way to play against England is like Israel did," he said.
"The strength of players like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard is to get the ball and drive into the heart of defences.
"Sometimes Lampard gets the ball on the halfway line, runs 30 yards and then fires it into the top corner.
"Against Israel he wasn't able to do that because everyone was behind the ball. England's strength is their power and athleticism
"If Israel decide to play defensively 30 or 40 yards from their goal, it takes guile, adventure and quick one-twos to break them down.
"That's not how England play. A team like Arsenal, Spain or Portugal, who play that football, could have broken Israel but that's not England's way."
England must now regroup for Wednesday's clash with Andorra but Barnes insists they can draw some comfort from the fact they returned from Israel with a point.
"I said all along that if England got a draw it would be a decent result, and the match was always going to be difficult for them," he said.
"While England should be beating Israel, it isn't as easy as that. A point is not a bad result.
"A win would have been fantastic, a loss disastrous, but a point isn't bad.
"You have to feel you'll win your home matches and Russia still have to go to Israel. It will be difficult for them."
They now trail Group E leaders Croatia by five points and while Barnes is confident they will book their place in Austria and Switzerland, he insists too much is demanded of the players.
"England are not the best team in the Europe or the world," he said.
"Moving in the right direction is getting consistency and regularly qualifying for competitions. I think England will qualify for Euro 2008.
"Of course, once we do qualify people will say we're going to win the competition and if we don't then it all be doom and gloom.
"The expectancy has to be more realistic. What England should be doing is getting to the latter stages of the World Cup, which they have been doing.
"But we need a humble approach to how good we really are."
Barnes maintains that England were frustrated by Israel's negative gameplan and fears they do not have the creativity to unlock sides intent on defending.
"For lesser teams the way to play against England is like Israel did," he said.
"The strength of players like Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard is to get the ball and drive into the heart of defences.
"Sometimes Lampard gets the ball on the halfway line, runs 30 yards and then fires it into the top corner.
"Against Israel he wasn't able to do that because everyone was behind the ball. England's strength is their power and athleticism
"If Israel decide to play defensively 30 or 40 yards from their goal, it takes guile, adventure and quick one-twos to break them down.
"That's not how England play. A team like Arsenal, Spain or Portugal, who play that football, could have broken Israel but that's not England's way."
England must now regroup for Wednesday's clash with Andorra but Barnes insists they can draw some comfort from the fact they returned from Israel with a point.
"I said all along that if England got a draw it would be a decent result, and the match was always going to be difficult for them," he said.
"While England should be beating Israel, it isn't as easy as that. A point is not a bad result.
"A win would have been fantastic, a loss disastrous, but a point isn't bad.
"You have to feel you'll win your home matches and Russia still have to go to Israel. It will be difficult for them."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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