Ashley Cole has said Sven-Goran Eriksson is the best England manager he has played under, while also revealing why Andre Villas-Boas had such a hard time at Chelsea.
Cole, 33, played under Eriksson for the Three Lions from 2001 to 2006, reaching the quarterfinals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups as well as Euro 2004.
And the Roma left-back, who retired from England duty in May after gaining 107 caps and left Chelsea on a free for a new challenge in Italy this summer, has told Sky Sport Italia working with the Swede had been one of the most enjoyable periods of his international career.
"Eriksson allowed us to be ourselves," he said of the man who left Lazio to take the England reins back in 2001. "We enjoyed playing for England under him.
"At the time, the English media made us out to be the best in the world, but we rarely really were and that put us under excessive pressure."
Despite the expectations being high, those three consecutive quarterfinal appearances have not been bettered by any of Eriksson's successors, with England failing even to qualify for Euro 2008, while they were beaten in the last-16 of the 2010 World Cup and did not progress beyond the group stage in this summer's tournament.
Another man who failed to match the standards set by his predecessor was Andre Villas-Boas, who succeeded Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea only to be sacked midway through his first season in charge.
Cole says the Portuguese did not have the backing of the Blues dressing room during an ill-fated nine month spell at Stamford Bridge.
"There were some players who didn't want to work hard for Villas-Boas," Cole said. "But as soon as [Roberto] Di Matteo arrived, that all changed."
Chelsea went on to win the Champions League and the FA Cup under Di Matteo that season, while Cole also won the Europa League with the club under current Napoli coach Rafael Benitez, before moving to Roma.
However, he has struggled to force his way into the Roma starting XI at times this season and, since his half-time substitution after being given a torrid time by Arjen Robben in the 7-1 defeat to Bayern Munich, he has found himself on the bench for games with Sampdoria and Napoli.
He did, though, play the full 90 minutes in the win over Torino on Sunday, and his agent has dismissed claims he is set to return to England this winter.
"Ashley is very happy at Roma and he's settling in better and better all the time," David Manasseh told calciomercato.it.