English press must change their ways

This England team is ready to win the World Cup. The players have the quality, the manager has the experience and the fans are creating an incredible atmosphere. There is just one problem: the attitude of the English press.

Of course we all know the reputation of the English press, but they really are being too pessimistic. From the outside it looks strange when a team wins two games, draws their third, tops their group and then gets criticised. Football is not as easy for the big countries as it was 25 years ago. The England players deserve a little more respect.

Everyone needs to get behind their national team, because it is very important for success on the pitch. Look at what is happening with the German team. We have not played strong opposition yet, but even when certain players are not playing great, the German journalists are writing positively.

This is not happening with England. A good example is the case of Owen Hargreaves. I'm a really big fan of his. He was a big influence in the game with Sweden and helped give the team balance.

He has an excellent character, will keep fighting until the final whistle and I know he is excited to play for England. Yet the press seem quick to criticise him because he grew up in Canada and plays football in Germany. He is seen as an outsider. Again, look at the Germany team. We have Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski, who are originally from Poland, but we have embraced them. They have become an important part of Jurgen Klinsmann's team and have been made to feel wanted. When I watched the Sweden game, I saw a team of players who are influential across some of the biggest clubs in Europe: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Arsenal. These are players capable of great things.

In England, people have got too caught up with how the team are playing rather than their results. There were two negatives to come out of the Sweden game.

Better organised

The first is the injury to Michael Owen. It is a pity, but if I had to choose it would be Wayne Rooney over Owen. While Owen is a good man to have in one-on-one situations, Rooney changes the way the whole team plays. With him in the starting line-up, England look so much more dangerous. The other negative to come out of the game was England's defending from set pieces. It is surprising because this is normally a strength of the England team. They need to be much better organised.

For the first Swedish goal it was David Beckham who was caught out of position on the front post. He has many qualities but heading is not one of them.

It is not a difficult problem to solve and I'm sure Eriksson will be working on it with his players this week. So if they solve this and Rooney keeps progressing, then it looks very promising for England.