When the England football team walked off the pitch at the Gottlieb Daimler Stadion Sunday evening, 1-0 victors over Ecuador, they knew they had secured their place in the quarter finals of the World Cup. But was their lacklustre performance enough to silence their traditionally vocal critics?

Apparently. The mood amongst England fans in Stuttgart was nothing short of jubilant, the television commentary was awash with superlatives, and even England’s harshest critic, the BBC’s Alan Hansen, was gushing in his praise for team members.

But something is clearly rotten in the state of Denmark.

If England possess perhaps six or seven of the world’s top 50 players, Ecuador should be lucky to count one of their number amongst the top 250 and could easily be considered plucky overachievers. By contrast, England — yet to be seriously tested — failed to impress against any of their opponents.

Paraguay, ranked 33rd to England’s 10th in FIFA’s world rankings, made England sweat, both literally and metaphorically, as they emerged 1-0 victors with a late goal. Late goals were again the order of the day as England struggled to find their feet against a Trinidad and Tobago side who surprised all by fighting hard in a 2-0 defeat. After snatching a late draw against England, it can’t go unnoticed that Sweden were easily dispatched by Germany in their second round tie. Ecuador were generally agreed to be among the weakest of the teams to make the knockout stage, and yet England managed just four shots on target during the 90 minutes.

BBC Five Live commentator and former Motherwell manager Terry Butcher has been one of the few pundits to speak out against the England setup. He controversially suggested that England ought to bench David Beckham for the game against Ecuador, opening up the midfield for Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard and allowing the team to play more free-flowing football.

However, in spite of a stilted performance and even a bout of illness, David Beckham’s free kick against Ecuador confirmed the captain as untouchable.

The blame for England’s lack of inspiration seems to lie squarely at the feet of their manager. Sven-Goran Eriksson has always set his stall out to play the best players available, and he has often adjusted England’s formation to fit this.

His plans for the World Cup were based around Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney attacking. With Owen gone, Eriksson opted to play Rooney as a lone striker. While Rooney clearly relished the task, it was ultimately a thankless one, for in spite of his tireless effort, he did not have enough support and repeatedly dropped deep to collect the ball.

In truth, none of England’s limited striking options have really clicked during this campaign and Eriksson is running out of time to get it right. Even the normally prolific midfield of Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, and Joe Cole has been misfiring. Yet the strangely favourable media response to the Ecuador result has done little to persuade Eriksson that any fundamental change is required.

England can still win the World Cup. They certainly have the players, but unless there is a dramatic improvement in the quality of their performance, they will be easy prey for serious opposition. England’s fans need to reconcile the notion of constructive criticism with the seemingly blind faith which has crept into the national mindset after some very workmanlike victories against weak opposition.

England must remember to expect more.