Quickening the Tempo Would Make England a Much Better Team

England are a poor international team with good players and it just doesn't make sense. The Three Lions team that Roy Hodgson sent out against Spain last week looked very good on paper - it's wasn't even a full strength side because of injuries - and yet they let themselves be completely played off the park in Alicante.

England played Spain's game and not their own. Having come through the Euro 2016 qualifying process as the only team across the whole continent to maintain a 100% winning record, albeit in an easy group, they should actually have the confidence to take any game to any opposition.

That wasn't the case against Spain, but looking ahead, one simple change to the tactics will make England a much better team with the same players and the same formation. It really is as simple as quickening the tempo.

To put it bluntly, England play too slowly and they have been doing so for some time - not just under Hodgson. The laboured build up play might work for some teams, like Spain, for example, who have a far superior passing game, but not England.

Leaving the obvious lack of entertainment value to one side, England aren't playing to their strengths when they try and keep the ball. At this moment in time there simply aren't the players capable of doing it.

What Hodgson and future coaches should be looking to do is capitalise on what is actually a strong group of defensive players - Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, John Stones, Joe Hart, Nathaniel Clyne, Luke Shaw (when fit again) and others - and the pace and directness of attacking players like Raheem Sterling, Ross Barkley and Theo Walcott (again, when fit).

Keeping clean sheets and getting the ball from back to front as quickly as possible to eliminate being outplayed in midfield areas is the key. There were opportunities to do it against Spain when defenders were dropping off, but it never came.

Ball playing centre-backs and deep lying midfielders should be looking to play the ball into the forwards, not necessarily in the air, early and start attacks that way. When a team tries to play possession football and can't, like England, it creates unnecessary risks and will cost goals and games.

English players are naive or arrogant to think they can beat teams with passing. Other countries win games by playing to their strengths, why not England?