Neville demands more
08 Oct 2006 - 11:36:25
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- Neville demands more
Everton defender Phil Neville believes that the current crop of England players are under-performing but still hopes he has a long international career in front of him.
The former Manchester United stalwart was an unused substitute in Saturday's dismal goalless draw in the Euro 2008 qualifier against FYR Macedonia and Neville thinks the England side should be producing much better performances and results.
"My brother Gary and I are part of an England generation that has some of the best players in the world, so for this group not to be successful would be a travesty," he told the News of the World.
"That's why everyone was so disappointed after the last World Cup. We know, with the players we have, we should be doing better.
"I thought we'd at least get to the semi-final. I felt the same in Euro 2004 and we didn't. Now we need to do something about it.
"It's difficult not to get carried away with the hype. The reality is we haven't won a major tournament for such a long time.
"Maybe we should consider ourselves underdogs. Our record suggests we aren't as good as the other major countries at the minute. Maybe we should be more realistic.
"But England is a great footballing nation and we should be winning more than one World Cup. Hopefully, this group of players can take us all the way - with me part of it."