Queens Park Rangers manager Harry Redknapp has insisted that England "do not know how to play football" and has called for an overhaul at all levels of the national setup.
His comments come after the Under-21s were embarrassingly knocked out of the U21 Euro 2013 group stages following three straight defeats to Italy, Norway and Israel.
Redknapp believes that the Three Lions, including the senior side, are in dire need of a change in the coaching standards.
"I am passionate about the England team at all levels and get terribly disappointed when I see us perform so abjectly against other countries when we have such great individuals," Redknapp wrote in The Sun. "But the overriding problem we all face is that English football must change. And it has to come from the very top of the game. That means manager Roy Hodgson getting involved with coaches at every level working in the same direction.
"We do not know how to play football. We just boot the ball up the pitch and it gets us nowhere. We don't have the kids coached the same way - the right way - from a young age. As a result we have a senior team that is greatly underachieving. Look at the so-called 'Golden Generation' of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole etc. Man for man there wasn't a country on Earth that could match that on paper. But together they never produced because we just hoofed the ball forwards into channels and hoped for the best.
"In international football you cannot just hit and hope because you give the ball away. It's all about possession, retaining the ball, controlling the game. We need coaches who believe in that ideal."
Redknapp was a contender to land the England job prior to Roy Hodgson's appointment.
Matt Cotton
