Massive egos landed England in misery: Dutch star

Massive egos landed England in football World Cup misery, said Holland star Johnny Heitinga.

The Sun quoted the Everton star as saying: "When you look at all the players in their squad, you've got maybe the best team in the world.  But if you want to win a big title like the World Cup, the most important thing is to be a team, to work for the team and to fight for each other."

"It doesn't matter if someone makes a mistake, you have to cover his back and fight for each other. You have to put your ego away and play for the good of the team. That is what we have done with the Netherlands. You can see we are all together and united," he added.

David Platt believes a lack of harmony in the England camp helped to bring them down.

The former England captain also believes that the problems are more deep rooted than a simple change of manager could solve.

Platt believes technique is not the problem.

He said: "I just wonder if our players have the right tactical know-how. But as a group with England there seemed no tactical awareness among the players as to where each other was.  They knew their own positions but not where other people's positions were."