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| Roy Hodgson has endured a tough start to life as England manager |
Hodgson is only a month into the job yet his honeymoon period - if he had one in the first place - is now well and truly over.
However, there are reasons to be positive going into the Euros for England.
There is a distinct lack of expectation on the squad to go far in Poland and Ukraine, and while this is far from positive, it could spur the players on to prove their doubters wrong.
England are in a tricky group, of that there is no doubt, but should have enough to reach the knockout stages.
Their toughest game will be against the resurgent France, who should top the group, but on paper Sweden and Ukraine are eminently beatable.
England may have never beaten Sweden in a competitive international, but their starting line-up hardly inspires.
Ukraine may be the co-hosts, but have no star quality.
If England do make it out of the group, they are likely to face Spain or Italy in the quarters.
Spain would surely be a step too far for this developing team, but Italy are in disarray and engulfed in a match-fixing crisis, so a semi-final appearance is certainly not impossible for England.
In truth, reaching the quarter-finals would be a success for the Three Lions, especially considering their farcical preparation for the tournament.
To not have a manager or captain in place going into May was madness, and several decisions since then have been perplexing to say the least.
I still feel Hodgson is the right man for the job and certainly the outstanding English candidate, but he has made some strange choices in his squad for Euro 2012.
It's a mystery why Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson have made the plane after their utterly mediocre seasons for Liverpool.
The presence of that duo hardly inspires, particularly when players who have had successful seasons, like Michael Carrick and Daniel Sturridge, are sitting at home (or, alternatively, on a sun lounger in the Caribbean).
Hodgson has also tried to justify the non-selection of Rio Ferdinand in the squad by stating he was overlooked for "footballing reasons".
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| Ferdinand had a strong end to the season with Manchester United |
Kelly is a good player, but not ready for an international tournament.
He certainly isn't good enough at this stage to be considered a suitable centre-half back-up. It would have been better for Hodgson to call up Stoke's Ryan Shawcross or West Ham's James Tomkins.
Hodgson clearly decided to choose between Ferdinand and John Terry for a place in the squad, to avoid any animosity between the pair flaring up at the tournament and creating an unnecessary sideshow.
However, he has made the wrong choice in selecting Terry.
He is the accused in a race trial, not Ferdinand.
Ferdinand is merely the brother of the alleged victim, so surely if anyone was to miss out on the tournament it should have been Terry.
His inclusion in the squad is sure to be divisive, while he is certainly no longer the fantastic defender he once was.
If Terry had anything about him, he would have stood aside until the conclusion of his trial, which would have spared Hodgson the extremely difficult decision he has had to make.
He has been unlucky with injuries and if Gary Cahill had been fit, the spotlight would have been taken off him slightly on the Ferdinand-Terry issue.
However, the decision to replace Cahill with Kelly just seems ridiculous and leaves England hopelessly shy of experience at the back.
Joleon Lescott will probably slot in alongside Terry at centre-back, with Phil Jagielka and Phil Jones as the main back-ups, but Ferdinand would have added something extra and it seems ridiculous to leave him out.
Micah Richards reportedly refused to be on the stand-by list but probably should have been in the squad anyway based on his form this season for Manchester City.
However, despite all this negativity, this England team has potential.
Joe Hart is one of the best goalkeepers in the world and will be looking to prove that in what is his first major international tournament.
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| Hart picked up a Premier League winners' medal this season with Manchester City |
As well as Hart, there is the consistency of Ashley Cole, brilliance of Steven Gerrard, frightening pace of Theo Walcott, industry of James Milner and Scott Parker, the exuberance of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Danny Welbeck, versatility of Phil Jones, the different option of Andy Carroll, great form of Ashley Young and, of course, Wayne Rooney.
Rooney may be suspended for the first two games but he will be fresh from then on and is still England's top performer.
He will feel it is time for him to produce his best form in a major international tournament after disappointments in 2006 and 2010, but he did well in his only Euros campaign to date (2004) and is sure to be feared by most defences in the tournament.
England must perform well without him and pick up at least one win against France or Sweden, otherwise Rooney's presence against Ukraine will be irrelevant.
However, with Welbeck leading the line, ably supported by Young, in Rooney's absence, England should still be in with at least a fighting chance.
If England do reach the quarter-finals, their history suggests they will go no further.
They have never won a Euros knockout game without the help of a penalty shoot-out (they won one of those against Spain in 1996), so Hodgson and co have the chance to create a small piece of history this summer.
However, merely getting out of the group should be considered a success given the farcical preparation for the tournament, and a decent showing in Poland and Ukraine would improve the nation's morale going into the qualifying for World Cup 2014.
The World Cup is surely Hodgson's primary objective as England's chances of winning Euro 2012 are minimal to say the least, but that doesn't mean the tournament is worthless to them.
Reaching the knockout stages would be a decent start for Hodgson, who has already instilled tactical discipline and made England difficult to break down.
The narrow friendly wins over Norway and Belgium may not have been enthralling, but if England are going to have any sort of success this summer, that is how they will have to play.
They are simply not good enough to tear teams apart at will - that is something Hodgson could aim to achieve by World Cup 2014 - and the calamitous preparation has weakened their chances, so the manager has to make the most of what he has got at his disposal.
Winning the Euros is an almost impossible task - although let's not forget Greece won the competition in 2004 - but England can have a successful tournament without winning it.
Just getting out of the group would be creditable.
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