With a tricky beginning to the World Cup looming for England against Italy in Manaus on 14th June, Roy Hodgson and his squad, who will be named on Monday, can take heart from the fact that many previous generations have not always kicked off in style.
Even the country's finest footballing year, 1966, opened in a pedestrian fashion so could it be a good omen if England do not fly out of the blocks in Brazil?
With a tricky beginning to the World Cup looming for England against Italy in Manaus on 14th June, Roy Hodgson and his squad, who will be named on Monday, can take heart from the fact many previous generations have been slow starters and even the country's finest footballing year, 1966, opened in a pedestrian fashion.
Sir Alf Ramsey's 'Wingless Wonders', nicknamed for the manager's decision to field a 4-4-2 formation instead of 4-2-4, were intent on making a mark on the international stage after only debuting in the World Cup in 1950.
But in front of 86,000 supporters at Wembley in their opening match, England were uninspiring to say the least as they drew 0-0 with Uruguay to offer the critics ammunition to attack the tournament hosts.
England, though, went on to defeat Mexico in their second match thanks to goals from Bobby Charlton and Roger Hunt, before ensuring they topped their group with a brace from the latter against France.
Twenty years on from 1966 and England found themselves in an even stickier situation in the group stages of the 1986 tournament in Mexico.
After Carlos Manuel's 76th minute goal ensured a 1-0 defeat by Portugal in their opening match at Estadio Tecnologico, Monterrey, Sir Bobby Robson's side were behind the eight ball.
A goalless draw with Morocco meant that all faith in the England team was as good as gone and a place in the latter stages looked to be only the subject of extreme wishful thinking.
But arguably Gary Lineker's finest hour in an England shirt ensured progression as the arm-casted striker's first-half hat-trick against Poland booked a last-16 meeting with Paraguay and an eventual date with Argentina and Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God'.
The 1990 World Cup still remains as England's best performance since conquering the globe in 1966, but it too started in less than ideal circumstances.
England's players experienced a hostile relationship with the press and were infamously filmed tearing a tabloid to shreds in the build up to the competition.
With a hooligan reputation also attached to England and their fans, it was a siege mentality for Robson's men in Italy.
And in the group stages an opening 1-1 draw against neighbours Republic of Ireland only gave the press-pack additional ammunition before a stalemate against The Netherlands.
However, England, with Robson apparently giving in to senior player power by deciding to change formation and play Mark Wright as a sweeper, still managed to top their group after a narrow 1-0 win over Egypt. Wright scored the winner.
Dramatic, nail-biting knockout victories over Belgium and Cameroon followed before the heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat by West Germany in the semi-finals as England returned home as heroes.
If we really wanted to stretch it... the 1954 World Cup is also worth a mention.
England drew their opening group match 4-4 against Belgium after extra-time thanks to a clumsy 94th minute own-goal from Portsmouth's Jimmy Dickinson.
With Italy, who lost their opening game to Switzerland, hammering Belgium in their second match, England went into their last group outing against the Swiss requiring a positive result.
Jimmy Mullen and Dennis Wilshaw scored the goals in Bern to ensure a 2-0 win and progression. England's World Cup came to an end in the next round, the quarter-finals, when they lost 4-2 to a strong Uruguay.
