One senses that as ITV came to the conclusion Roy Keane should join the panel of Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Lee Dixon for their coverage of England's latter-stage World Cup fixtures, they knew exactly what they were doing.
Although today's third-placed playoff offered little or none of the intensity Wednesday evening's World Cup semi-final assured, it still appeared - contrary to the desires of his fellow pundits - that Keane remained adamant he would stick to the topic he had in mind; England's defensive frailties.
After singling out Tottenham Hotspur's Danny Rose at the half-way point of today's tie, Ireland's assistant manager took on the whole of England's back-line soon after their 2-0 defeat had been confirmed:
They have to defend better. The two goals they gave away today, the other night ... and I know Lee [Dixon] said we can't be critical, but I can.
You defend like that and it is very hard to win games of football.
Citing the two goals Belgium scored in today's third-placed playoff, Keane believes England were 'very poor' defensively. Neville, to his credit, was willing to concede that such defensive errors will ultimately cost you. However, while he remained positive that these players could grow, Keane was less certain:
These players won't [rid themselves of these errors]. If you make the same mistakes every week, it's going to continue - they're not going to change.
Saving special condemnation for Phil Jones and Danny Rose particularly, Roy Keane ultimately believes they're not 'great defenders', and, even with the input of great coaches, they're unlikely to improve.
