ENGLAND'S Euro 2004 exit has once more provoked a 101 post-mortems as people come to terms with another painful end to a major championships.

Personally, I find it amazing how quick people are to criticise. Sven-Goran Eriksson's record is still not bad but it seems to be an English trait to immediately look for the negatives.

There's also talk about seasoned professionals like David Beckham not performing and it always seems like we need somebody to blame. I simply think that, on the night, we were not good enough but the squad will be very similar for the World Cup in two years' time.

In fact, hopefully, it will be boosted by one or two talented additions that break through and I think we can do well in Germany if we look at the positives. The biggest plus has got to be Wayne Rooney's emergence.

He stamped his authority on the tournament and I don't think any English player has ever made such an impact at a European Championships or World Cup. Hopefully, he can continue to progress at the same rate.

The quarter-final against Portugal, however disappointing, was a great spectacle. It was the last game I was due to watch on holiday although, if England had got through, I would have probably flown back for the semi-final and final.

The crowd was probably 55-45 per cent in favour of the English so there were fewer of us than at the other games but I've never been at a match where there was so much noise created by both sets of fans.

England's performance was disappointing considering how we had done in the group games when I felt we were always in command.

The result might have been disappointing against France and we might have been a bit under the cosh towards the end but I still thought we looked comfortable.

We got off to a great start against Portugal but then tried to defend for 87 minutes, which is always going to be difficult against a side that had an extra man in referee Urs Meier.

There has been a lot of talk about the impact Rooney's injury had and, at first, everybody in the crowd was thinking "oh no" but Darius Vassell came on and did well. You can't be reliant on one young lad although I'm sure Portugal would have been happy as Rooney was growing stronger by the game.

It might have been different had he stayed on but it should not have affected the side to the point where they could not go on and win the game.

There has also been a lot of talk about Beckham's performance and he did not look as fit as he normally does. He retained possession well but did not have that spark and energy and fell below the standards he set himself as he admitted but people of his ability and, with his mental strength, bounce back.

There was a big thing made about the penalty spot but his attempt did look a bit wild. Who knows how players are going to feel when they are put in that scenario? The way he takes dead-ball kicks you would think he would be a good penalty taker.

Then Vassell stepped up and I don't think he hit the ball well. He had the courage of his own convictions to step forward at sudden death and lesser men would not have wanted to take one so you should never criticise him for that.

As for Sol Campbell's disallowed header, I was at the opposite end but had a clear view of it and it looked a perfect goal. At the time, all the England fans were celebrating, thinking we had gone through but the next thing we saw was Portugal on the attack. Fortunately, they did not score, otherwise I don't think Mr Meier would have left the stadium alive.

It was a game where you went through every emotion as a fan but, at the end, there was just a feeling of frustration. There were grown men in tears, as well as others screaming and shouting. They were upset though rather than violent.

The Portuguese, in contrast, were jubilant. Trying to get out of Lisbon with all the car horns sounding was hard to take, but there was no trouble because, as England fans, we knew we would have celebrated in the same manner.

In fact, I don't think you can praise the England fans enough and the camaraderie between the two nations was great throughout the tournament despite what might have been reported about incidents away from the football. There was no trouble at any of the games and, even though Portugal supporters were celebrating just four or five yards away from England fans in the stadium, it did not trigger anything. In many ways, it would have been the perfect final but sadly it wasn't to be.

Updated: 09:08 Thursday, July 01, 2004