Cole asks for major improvement
Sunday, 27 June, 2010
Midfielder says England must go 'back to the drawing board'.
Marc Isaacs
Joe Cole believes England need to show a major improvement and address the problems which have resulted in the Three Lions being knocked out of the World Cup.
Cole was heartbroken after England suffered a 4-1 defeat against Germany in the last 16 of the tournament.
Fabio Capello’s side were hoping to reach the latter stages of the competition but they could not produce their best form when it mattered the most.
Cole said: “We have to look at ourselves as a group and we weren't good enough from the start of the friendlies, the six games we've played, so it is back to the drawing board.
"I don't know why this is. If I knew, I'd put it right. We will go away and start again but we have to address the problems that are there.
"We're all in it together - everyone who has been involved with England from the qualifying campaign. We got to the last 16 of the World Cup. We got to the last eight last time so we need to improve.
"I am bitterly disappointed. There are a lot of issues. We wanted to do well and sometimes we just weren't good enough, plain and simple.
"It is hard to say we were second best. No-one likes doing it but that's life unfortunately. We came up against a team who were better than us.
"We have such high expectations. We want to win the tournament and we didn't do that. We do feel we have let ourselves down, the manager and the fans.”