FUTURE STAR ... Rio Ferdinand is baffled by the lack of playing time for The Ox

Ferdinand also cannot understand why United pal Michael Carrick was not persuaded to go to the championships.

Carrick had told the FA he no longer wanted to be considered just as a squad man and Hodgson did not try to change his mind.

Ferdinand said: “People have been talking about the huge influence of Andrea Pirlo for Italy against us but our own Pirlo was on a beach somewhere.

“Michael was the man to create for us and we left him behind.

“When we faced Pirlo for United against AC Milan a couple of seasons ago, our gaffer stuck Park Ji-Sung on him and he never let him out of his sight. We won the game 4-0 and I bet when Pirlo woke up the next day he thought Park was lying beside him he had stayed that close.

“Pirlo is always dangerous when he is allowed time and space but the way to try and stop him is to get someone near to him.

“Mind you, that isn’t always easy and the way he played, at the age of 33, gives all us over 30s hope. He’s an inspiration.

“If Pirlo was English would he have made the squad let alone been on the pitch?

“I don’t know as his qualities may have been overlooked... not by just the current manager but maybe those before him too.”

Ferdinand reckons England need to show more ambition next time out while also learning to hold on to the ball. He said: “The only time we really kept the ball properly was when Danny Welbeck dropped short to collect it and linked the play.

“But, usually, he was having to stay up and wasn’t allowed to drop too much because we had set out a certain way with a 4-4-2 which didn’t offer a great deal of flexibility.

“At United we play 4-4-2 but we also change it depending on how the game’s doing to 4-3-3 or 4-5-1.

“It’s OK saying we were very good defensively and hard to beat but if you set out to be defensive then that’s your first priority.

“It makes it very hard for the attacking players in the team though.

“I’d love to see us running at other teams. I want to see Alex and Theo and Adam Johnson, who I thought should have gone too, causing problems instead of worrying about covering back as the first thought.

“And I want us to get Danny on the ball more like he does for United.”

Ferdinand added: “The most damming statistic of them all was that one which showed our best passing combination was between Joe Hart and Andy Carroll.

“That would have been bad enough if Carroll had played the whole game but it’s even worse when you realise he came on as sub after an hour.

“We are better than that, nobody can be proud of that stat.”

But what of Ferdinand’s Old Trafford team-mate Wayne Rooney, who yet again struggled to impose himself on a major tournament having been suspended for the first two group games against France and Sweden.

The defender has an obvious solution.

Ferdinand, who was talking to The Sun courtesy of New Era Global Sports Management, added: “Wayne is our best player, he’s world-class and we have to build the team round him, not get him to fit in with it.

“Barcelona are geared to getting Lionel Messi on the ball in dangerous areas as much as possible. Everything they do works to that end.

“If we are to go forward, making Wayne a more central figure has to be the way.”

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