England coach Fabio Capello has blamed fatigue for the lacklustre performances of his team at the World Cup. "Important English players were really tired," the Italian said. "The coaches told me that the physical situation was not like the players that we know.

"The players were not as good as I know because they played not so fast, not so quick. I can see through the seven games they were not so fast as I know."

"I understand a lot after this tournament because the players trained very well and were focused every time but the performance was not at the level that I know. Probably we are really tired every time at a competition that we have to play."

Capello also commented on the idea for a winter break in the Premier League, to allow players to recoup some energy ahead of end of season finale's.

"Germany always arrive at the second part of the season very well when you play Champions League.

"The reason is that it's very important to recover the force, but it's not my job to decide over the calendar."