England Football and Attribution .. when are the national team and manager going to be responsible?

The difference between the England Rugby team and football at the moment is immense, not just by the obscene money and salaries but by the willingness to admit defeat, the rugby team took responsibility and held a long team meeting, deconstructing the teams woeful display against South Africa on September 14th 2007. The Rugby teams underperfomance and beating called for a decision to do something immediately about  their performance- a soul searching day of reflection and a team meeting called by the players themselves ensued. Steve Maclaren seems happy to blame anything but his team, his tactics and admit he was wrong. The England football team woefully underperformed and fell to pieces under pressure. It is hard to imagine when one total's the amount of money the England team totalled in finance- questions need to be asked as to the 'what' and 'how' is going on that the team can not perform and raise both their individual level and team level (collectively) of performance. Instead the team demonstrated a dreadful woeful performance of which for one goal- the penalty- our manager states that is a awful decision.... well Steve.. that is professional sport.

Using the England Rugby side as a working example, the England football team and staff support team as well as manager have a lot to reflect upon and to take responsibility for today's loss. More importantly, the players themselves, it saddens me that players can not raise their game and play when required with passion, guts, absolute determinism and pride that the nation witnessed and observed in last Saturday's Rugby game vs France. (Grown men were on their knees with pure exhaustion both mentally and physically) Instead we have a manager who is happy blaming and attributing the England's team's loss to a poor decision penalty. Come on Steve!! Even if it is to protect the players themselves, it is creating and excerbating a culture of attribution and blame.   That's like the England Rugby given  two penalties against them and conveying no resolve to fight back.....The England football team need to look deep inside themselves and find out what it means for them to play and represent England and to win, to find that meaning again.It is shameful the amount of talent AND millions of pounds on the pitch and lack of responsibility by both players and the Team manager for the loss this evening. Beaten by a Russian  team (who were losing 1-0) who wanted to win more and qualify .The Russian team conveyed pure passion, focus, and ability to come back under pressure- which the England football team failed to do. Period! Let's move away from  attribution and blame of the referee and instead for the players and managers themselves to take responsibility.... as well as the FA. A team meeting and reflection, player and manager responsibility  is at  least required after this loss... not blame.