No need for England to panic! Six reasons why the Three Lions can still have successful Euro 2024

Early noughties nostalgia is all the rage right now, so it's fitting that the England men's football team have got into the spirit of the times by serving up a tournament performance reminiscent of Sven Goran Eriksson's failed 'Golden Generation'. All the hallmarks of that hopeful, yet ultimately disappointing era have been on show during their opening two games of Euro 2024.

Players are being deployed out of position, the camp has been affected by some off-field distractions and the manager is facing the harshest media criticism of his time in charge. Some of the squad have even fired back.

After Gary Lineker called the Three Lions' display against Denmark "sh*t", captain Harry Kane issued a lengthy rebuttal. "The bottom line is, we haven't won anything as a nation for a long, long time. And, you know, a lot of these ex-players were part of that as well... they do know that it's tough to play in these major tournaments. It's tough to play for England," he told the press.

This sorry episode gives an indication of how low morale is in the country following that dismal draw with Denmark and unconvincing victory over Serbia. But has the overwhelmingly negative reaction been fair? England are top of their group for starters and, barring a quite remarkable turn of events, will progress to the knockouts. Perhaps it might be okay after all?..