Lipton: A lot of Germany’s second-string could walk into England’s first XI

Daily Mirror chief football writer, Martin Lipton, joined Kick Off to share his thoughts on England’s 1-0 defeat to Germany at Wembley.

The Three Lions were second-best against their fiercest rivals on home turf, and Lipton believes Roy Hodgson’s current crop gives us little chance of making it to the knock-out stages of the World Cup.

He told talkSPORT: “The gulf between England’s best and Germany’s second-best was apparent.

“We lacked Germany’s organisation and intelligence, they were just cuter, cleverer and more adept in every sense.

“When you look at their players, the Bender twins - Sven and Lars - and Toni Kroos and a few others, they would walk into our team but are currently struggling to get into the German squad, and that’s the difference.

“England should be a last-eight team, but we might not even be that in the World Cup next year.

“We can’t judge ourselves by the standards of the teams that could win the tournament, because we’re not one of them.”