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Look at John Terry and Frank Lampard, so central to Chelsea's charge to the title. Terry was dismal against Germany, while Lampard has once again returned from a World Cup without scoring a goal ().

Neither of them were included in the PFA team of the season, but made it to South Africa - Joe Hart, James Milner, Wayne Rooney (all England), Branislav Ivanovic (Serbia), Patrice Evra (France), Cesc Fabregas (Spain) and Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) - were.

And how many of them are left at the World Cup? One - Fabregas - who has mostly been warming the Spanish bench.

Contrast that to the pick of Spain's La Liga. There is no official PFA team in that league, but is as good as any:

Victor Valdes, Sergio Ramos, Jesus Navas, Xavi, Villa (all Spain); Ever Banega, Lional Messi, Gonzalo Higuain (all Argentina); Nunes, Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal); Dani Alves (Brazil).

Of that pick, nine players made the journey to South Africa (Banega and Nunes missed out on selection for their respective squads). All, at the time of writing, are still there.

Another interesting comparison might be the team from the . Again, seven of them went to the finals - the Brazilians Julio Cesar, Maicon and Lucio; Argentine defender Walter Samuel and striker Diego Milito; Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder; and Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o.

So far, Eto'o is the only one back home.

The statistics are even more in favour if a look is taken at Inter's opposition that day. Six of Bayern Munich's German players (Butt, Lahm, Badstuber, Schweinsteiger, Muller and Klose); Samuel's Argentine centre-back partner Martin Demichelis, and the Dutch pair of Mark van Bommel and Arjen Robben, all retain an interest in the World Cup.

But the finest representatives of England's league? On the plane home.

Indeed, it is hard to name one England-based player who has really shone so far in the tournament, and some have had shockers.

Steven Pienaar - - was . . Fernando Torres has looked a ghost of his Liverpool self, in comparison to his strike partner, the fizzing David Villa.

Then there is the Wayne Rooney question. An Italian friend of mine sent me this fine joke last night:

David Blaine is gutted: his record of doing has been broken by Wayne Rooney.

A little harsh? It certainly reflects the feeling of disappointment in the performance of the striker. Remember that after he limped off against Bayern Munich, the English press speculated that .

The most frustrating thing is perhaps the feeling of inevitablility that, come August, Rooney will be back to scoring freely and spectacularly for Manchester United.

So what is it about the Premiership that has brought out the worst in its players at South Africa? Why have they mostly had a poor World Cup? Is there something about the Premiership that fails at international level? Is it too much football? Is it the mentality? Or something else?