England came out of last summer’s World Cup asking where was their Luka Modric? They exited the Nations League asking where is their Frenkie de Jong?

Two semi-finals defeats take a little of the air out of the belief that Gareth Southgate has been building in this new England who for all their progress under their manager still do not have the “winning mentality” that he is trying to create. They remain too brittle.

Falling short in the semi-finals is no disgrace but real, tangible signs that England can go that one step further slipped away as they again surrendered a lead and lost control of the game. They were just not good enough. They came up short - Especially in midfield; especially with that lack of control.

This defeat to a vibrant Holland will centre on the defensive errors – appalling mistakes by John Stones and Ross Barkley – but it was in the midfield where it was lost.

In Guimaraes England were hanging on for far too long. They just did not have enough possession or, at least, enough meaningful possession and there was a sense of déjà vu with what happened in Moscow 11 months ago against Croatia and not least with the inevitability of Holland’s equalising goal which came after England were relentlessly pushed back which was impossible to resist.