A month or so ago 99% of England supporters would have been very pleased with the job that Fabio Capello had done for England, however this morning there are big questions that need to be asked, but truthfully I think the accusing fingers should be pointed at the players not the manager.
Capello had built up a well disciplined squad following the debacle that was the England set up after several years of mis management with Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren and it seems that something or someone, perhaps even some people were not happy with this and undermined it.
The roots of the problems I think can be traced back to the John Terry incident, then Capello chose to try and seek compromise, feeling that Terry was an integral part of the squad, in hindsight he was wrong and perhaps if he could turn back time he would have sacked Terry not just from the captaincy but the squad, sadly when the manager let down his iron guard certain people saw this as weakness and attempted to drive a horse and cart through the gap.
The likes of Terry with his ill advised press conference knew that at a tournament the managers hands were tied, under normal circumstances Capello would have sent the Chelsea player home immediately, however with injuries and suspensions he didnt have that luxury and had to grit his teeth and keep Terry in the team.
However you do have to say Capello made mistakes as well, taking both Ledley King who was never going to be 100% at any time alongside the uncapped Michael Dawson was folly and the dropping of Robert Green perhaps showed that he lacked the coarage of his convictions, however it can be countered that surely no manager would foresee the treachery that would go on inside his own camp.
The real failure of England lies mainly with the players, in all four games they simply failed to do the basics, whether it was passing ten yards or getting under a long punt from the German keeper and sadly they didnt show any signs of actually wanting to get things right, they didnt like the discipline under Capello so they bluntly just went through the motions, several of them knew that under Capello they would never play again, so they had no incentive to help him keep his job by winning.
England are now at a crossroads, the FA need to back Capello, they now need to give him the mandate to continue the undoubted good work he put in prior to this World cup in building a squad that wants to play for their country and not themselves, the World Cup came a little too soon for him to achieve that now, but he can now probably see the wood from the trees and can strip out the problems.
The alternative i feel would be a complete disaster, sacking Capello would be a victory for player power, it would show certain members of the squad that they wield the power, that if they dont like the manager they can simply get him removed through their actions and that is not good for any football team.
England need a team that is disciplined, too many players on Sunday and indeed in the group games earlier, didnt play to anything like their capabilities and that is more than just coincidence.