Joe Cole reveals why 2010 England World Cup squad was ‘unhappy camp’ and names two best players he ever faced

JOE COLE has revealed that former England manager Fabio Capello was too disciplined with the players during the 2010 World Cup.

The former England star believes that the Italian got the wrong idea about the squad and was too hard on them going into the World Cup in South Africa.

The Three Lions were knocked out of the tournament in the round of 16 by Germany.

However, the whole campaign was underwhelming as England only scraped through the group by one point.

While Cole says that the players should shoulder some of the blame for the failure he did also say that the manager got it “wrong” for the tournament.

He said on ITV: “Fabio was a great coach, at the back end of his career. I always find it difficult when you get foreign managers coming in, I put myself in their shoes.

“If we were to have played Italy, where would his heart be?

“I just felt that he got the wrong impression of us as players, I felt he thought that we needed discipline, I don’t know who he was getting his information from.

“We needed a little bit of discipline, but it was not a happy place.

“It is hard to explain, that when you are there and locked up, the pressure is great anyway, especially in that era, there was a team expected to be winning trophies.

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“Everything was crack the whip and it wasn’t working. We can’t sit here as ex-players and blame Fabio Capello. It was us collectively, it is hard to accept as we wanted to win the World Cup but we weren’t good enough.

“But he did get the wrong impression of us and did not get the tournament right.”

The former Chelsea and West Ham star also hailed the difference the current England team is under manager Gareth Southgate.

He argues that the management of Southgate is one of the major reasons behind the Three Lions’ success.

While discussing Spain’s midfield of Pedri and Gavi, Cole also revealed the two best players that he has ever faced.

He added: “Xavi and Iniesta, they’re the two best I ever played against!

“They blew my mind how good they were, you would go to close them down and they would pop it off.

“You couldn’t get near them. They were frustrating to play against.

“But it they were also my stature, and for years I was told you had to be powerful, strong midfielder but then there these types of players dominating games.”