THERE’S no need to go off the deep end about England’s late collapse against Russia but the ITV pundits could try a little harder to be analytical.

A draw snatched from the jaws of victory left us all feeling deflated but Lee Dixon, Ian Wright and Peter Crouch seemed to have their script written 20 minutes before the end in Marseilles and no Russian equaliser was going to change it.

Lee Dixon described a “perfect” performance. Beg to differ.

Peter Crouch – who has a curious habit of sounding out of breath whenever he’s a pundit – made little attempt to scrutinise the defending which led to Vasili Berezutski’s late goal.

And Ian Wright was there as well.

“You don’t go for 2-0 because you’re setting yourself up,” opined Dixon. For what, Lee? A more comfortable win?

James Milner’s introduction was a conservative move by Roy Hodgson and had it seen the game out at 1-0 would have been seen very differently. But that same player gave Russia too much space to lump the ball into the box in the final seconds, so isn’t a modicum of measured criticism warranted? Evidently not.

Oh for the days of a Brian Clough, a Jimmy Hill or an Alan Hansen, they would have cut to the chase and given England a reminder of where they need to improve.

Until the news came on ITV also seemed blissfully unaware of the trouble which had escalated inside the stadium as they waxed lyrical.

There is a big difference between (most) former footballers and professional journalists and when moving stories like that happen, you soon see who can think fast on their feet.

Final word on Slaven Bilic, who has been my star of the tournament so far.

The West Ham boss has been in great form as a pundit and is genuinely watchable but wherever he got that hair transplant from, I hope he kept the receipt.