WORLD WEARY ... England after their 4-1 defeat by Germany at last year's World Cup

IT may be only November but it seems it is never too early for Fabio Capello to start making excuses.

Euro 2012 is just under seven months away.

And the man paid £6million a year to bring the best out of some of the biggest names in world football is already giving his stars an excuse for failure.

Not only do England players lack the quality to play like world and European champions Spain.

According to their own manager, by June they will also be too tired to make the most of what ability they do have.

Ahead of Saturday's Wembley showpiece against the Spanish, Capello said: "At this time, England are physically very good.

"The problem of the English is that they arrive at the end of the season dead. They run a lot, they fight, they clash, they never stop.

"Because of that, they reach the end tired."

'Dead'?

Just like the hopes of improving on a dismal World Cup, let alone a return to the time when England were considered a world football power.

Those days are gone, according to Capello.

He reckons his young team can give the Spanish a game at the weekend.

But as for making a decent showing in Poland and Ukraine next summer, the message seems to be: Don't get your hopes up.

Capello said: "Everyone talks about the Spanish style, the Barca style.

"It's a style that only those players can have. It's touch, touch, touch... but with the highest quality.

"You can't think of playing one touch if you don't have the quality to play that way.

"We have our own good players but not for trying to have the playing style which Spain have, which Barca have, with 65 per cent possession of the ball."

From one point of view, Capello is only saying what most Three Lions fans have long believed.

England do not have enough players with the technique of a Xavi or an Iniesta to take on the best teams at their own game.

And the talented players they do have are flogged to a standstill by the domestic game.

No one can forget the way the 'golden generation' sleepwalked their way through the World Cup last year before being overwhelmed by a stronger, better, faster, younger German side.

But what a time to be saying it, days before a game against Spain and just as excitement around Euro 2012 is beginning to build.

There is managing expectations — and there is crushing hopes.

There is keeping your feet on the ground — and there is undermining a squad's already fragile confidence.

It is telling the way Capello praises his Spanish counterpart Vicente del Bosque, who took over the national team after their Euro 2008 triumph under Luis Aragones.

The Italian said: "Vicente is not only a great coach and a very good person, he is also a very intelligent man.

"When he took over this team, he understood immediately what to do.

"He's a great psychologist. He knew how to manage very well from a point when the team had just won the European title, improving everything." How many England players would say the same of Capello?

Surely, he must take some of the blame for the side's lack of progress during his reign of almost four years.

His players were knackered at the end of the 2009-10 season, sure.

So why take them to train at altitude in the Alps when most experts said it would only make the tiredness worse ahead of the World Cup in South Africa?

But Capello told Spanish newspaper Marca: "I think we've done a pretty good job.

"English football has only 33 per cent English players, no more. That makes everything difficult."

Difficult, maybe. But not as hard as Capello has sometimes made it look.

The only reason to be cheerful that Capello seems able to offer is there may be a new generation of England players who can rise to the challenge at Euro 2012.

The process of working out who they are will start against the world champions on Saturday.

Capello added: "It is a difficult test. But, for me, the important thing in this game is to know the worth of some of my players.

"Against Spain, new kids, youngsters — it's important to know the potential of those footballers.

"It is also interesting that the match is at Wembley. We have been playing better away than at home.

"At Wembley, we have more pressure, playing in front of our own people and I want to see the team's response to our fans."

It will also be interesting to see the team's response to Capello's unflattering assessment of them — both on Saturday at Wembley and next summer at the Euro 2012 finals.