'Where did it all go wrong?'

It seemed almost pointless to write anything about England’s exit. As is the case with any English failure (and, let’s face it, there are plenty), the post-mortem began even before the referee blew the final whistle in Uruguay’s victory, and will go on almost endlessly - long into the qualification campaign for the European Championships of 2016.

But on Friday, when the BBC asked on its website: ‘where did it all go wrong?’ I was struck by the irony of the question. It seemed to perfectly encapsulate the arrogance of the media, or at least the ignorance the press hold when covering the national side. Perhaps it is time they took a hard look at themselves in their pursuit of an answer.

My piece on Wayne Rooney last week focused upon the impact the media can have upon the performances of an individual, but the problem goes deeper than that. As my housemate astutely pointed out this weekend, the press were never on the side of Roy Hodgson’s England from day one.

Perhaps the front cover of the Sun isn’t completely indicative of British sporting journalism, but - as said housemate observed - you have to wonder how many nations would herald the beginning of a new manager’s reign by ridiculing him. Referring to Graham Taylor’s England of Euro ’92 as ‘Turnips’ is one thing, but to make fun of a man before a ball has been kicked under his tenure is a different and much more significant matter.

England, of course, did not look like world beaters at this tournament. It will be a while before a serious discussion can take place about winning the World Cup, but they were handed a tough group in which they competed gamely. Indeed, the Three Lions have played worse in previous tournaments and qualified, and you would have fancied their chances in nearly any of the other seven groups at these finals.

There are, undoubtedly, problems with the national side. A country with our footballing prowess on club level should have achieved more in recent years, but the point is that not all of the problems are internal. The English press undoubtedly do a great job of promoting the game and indeed analysing it, but sometimes those asking the questions should be asking those questions of themselves.

For low-key expectations before the tournament suddenly turned to outrage when England’s campaign ended prematurely. The BBC’s Phil McNulty used the word ‘embarrassing’, whilst Henry Winter called upon the players, staff and Football Association to apologise to the nation for their performances. If Luis Suarez's Uruguay exit the competition at the hands of Italy on Tuesday, I doubt his country's press will be making any similar demands.

Mercifully, Jim Holden of the Sunday Express wrote with more reasoning when he described the campaign as ‘a pity, but not a disgrace’; a far more balanced view that was more in keeping with pre-tournament predictions. The reality is that there are positives to come out of this campaign, but the press have been blinded by catchy statistics and trends of history.

Yes, this may turn out to be England’s worst-ever campaign historically and indeed statistically, but anyone who knows the game is aware that football is goes much deeper than that. Winter and McNulty obviously have more knowledge about the game in their little fingers than I do, but as weighty contributors to this country's sporting media it feels like they are doing themselves something of an injustice by falling into the trap of hyperbole.

The media makes much of the ‘fear’ England players are burdened with going into big tournaments, but when low expectations still translate to national backlash, it isn’t hard to see where the source of this fear can be found.

In answer to the BBC’s question, perhaps that childish headline is where it all began to go wrong. It’s about time the press were a help, not a hindrance, to our national team.