Why does England always play so poorly?
From the time I've been following the world and euro cups ('94), England has only made it to the semis in their own country ('96) and no further than the quarter-finals in any other cup.
Because were just rubbish, too much one dimensional thinking at the lower levels means English players can't adapt or do anything except what they are taught
Maybe too few English youth players are coming through because the clubs are owned by rich playboys who just buy any (non-English) player they want.
England is overrated in this World Cup as always. If i see that people rated them before WC on one level with teams like Italy and over teams like Colombia or the Netherlands, I just can laugh about that. That youth players dont get enough games in premier league is a point but not the mainpoint imho.
I think the big problem in English football is the youth player education. Almost all English youth player academies promote the same type of players. The attention in education leans towards speed and strength. These two abilities are essential in football, but thats not enough anymore in modern football. It was often good enough until the 1990's, but today you need to be able to be very good in tactics and especially technics to compete with World Class. Somehow its part of the mentality in sports (and maybe even the societies of that countries tends to that) of the most of english speaking countries to tend to speed and strength. If you see teams like England, Australia and USA, they have good players, but their game is too uninspired, too predictable and in some way too straight forward to compete with the best.
As said, the main reason for the failure of England in the past is in my eyes, that the english youth player education missed the progress in modern football and that for the last 25 years. The focus is still on the essential skills that you need in football, but too less on the skills you need to be Tier I. Germany had exactely the same problem in late 90's and early 00's, but there the old men in decision functions were able to change their thinking and built up a first class education system on national level and on club level as well. So, its doable, for such a great country with that passion for football like England is, anyway. But it has to be done.