Wednesday 29 June 2016 20:01, UK
Steven Gerrard says England made "too many of the mistakes of the past" as they departed Euro 2016 with an embarrassing defeat to Iceland.
Gerrard suffered similar frustration in an England shirt, captaining the side at the 2014 World Cup where they went out at the group stage of the tournament for the first time since 1958.
The former Liverpool midfielder believes England's players were gripped by panic when they went 2-1 down to Iceland, exposing a fragility built on repeated failures at major tournaments.
"We failed so badly on Monday because of our poor decision-making, an inability to respond to events as they unfolded and because we repeated too many of the mistakes of the past," Gerrard wrote in his column for The Daily Telegraph.
"When England went behind, many of those players will have been thinking of the consequences of defeat as much as what to do to get back in the game.
"I hate to say it, but your mind drifts to what the coverage is going to be like back home and the level of criticism you are going to get.
"Panic sets in. The frustration takes over. You freeze and stop doing those things you know you should be. You start forcing the game, making the wrong choices with your passes, shooting from the wrong areas and letting the anxiety prevent you from doing the simple things.
"Everything you said and prepared for before the game gets forgotten. I hear people say that is a sign of mental fragility. Maybe it is, but that is what we have got with the England team created by 50 years without winning a major tournament. It's what happens."
Gerrard believes the current crop of players can recover from this provided the right man is appointed to take England forward.
He added: "Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Dele Alli. Don't tell me these are not top players who can deliver for England in the future.
"Don't tell me the players don't care, or that they will not have been sitting in that dressing room absolutely devastated by what happened.
"As low as we all feel now we can recover from this and we have to move away from recrimination and get on with finding solutions as soon as possible.
"Over the last 12 months the England cricket and rugby teams have faced the same crisis as we do now after miserable campaigns in international tournaments.
"What the likes of Trevor Bayliss and Eddie Jones have demonstrated is that if you have the right man in charge of the talent it can come together quickly. That is the side of the fence I am on. With a shrewd appointment, we can make more of the quality we have.
"I cannot remember feeling so down as an England supporter but we have to act constructively to make sure it never happens again. And we have to be careful before we write off the idea we have any talent. We need to nurture it before the next World Cup, not kill it. "
