THE national media’s reaction to England going out of the World Cup sums up the problem in this country.

In the months leading up to the World Cup, everyone seemed to agree we probably wouldn’t make it out of the “group of death”.

And lo and behold that’s exactly what’s happened.

But instead of accepting the early departure and taking positives from the campaign (and there were some), people are now calling for Roy Hodgson’s head and declaring the campaign a total disaster.

Sacking Hodgson would be an incredibly backward step and I truly hope the media don’t put so much pressure on the FA and Hodgson himself that the powers that be cave in and do just that.

We need stability. Hodgson is bringing through an extremely talented group of attacking players that are technically as good as any English group of players I can remember and will be the basis of England squads for the next 10 years.

Why stunt that development by changing everything in the national team yet again?

The one disappointment for me was just how poor our defending was. Hodgson has a reputation as an organiser and – with Gary Neville on the staff – I thought we would be a lot better, even if the back four is one of the weakest I have ever known as an England fan.

But let’s not beat around the bush, we need better defenders and that’s not up to Roy, he can’t go out and buy a few. It’s down to our club sides and national development teams to produce some.

If we can find two or three defenders in the same mould as Tony Adams, Rio Ferdinand or John Terry then we will be a real threat again. I honestly believe that.