The problem: Tactics you'd expect on Football Manager
Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford and Daniel Sturridge have all been given chances to shine, with Dele Alli, Adam Lallana, Raheem Sterling, Jack Wilshere and Wayne Rooney playing in different combinations around them as wide men or in No. 10 role.
And at one unforgettable point in the Wales match, England manager Roy Hodgson threw caution to the wind as Danny Rose and Kyle Walkereffectively abanonded defence and played as permanent wingers in a bizarre (but effective) 2-1-2-5 formation that is the sort of thing you'd expect of a nine-year-old playing Football Manager rather than one of football's most famously cautious coaches.
Lallana has been the sole point of stability: he alone of the front three started all three matches, but while he has toiled endlessly he is yet to register a first international goal or create much either. Kane and Sterling began in the side for the first match and a half, but made way for Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge.
The latter pair were effective off the bench against Wales, both scoring in a stirring second-half comeback, but less so in the stalemate with Slovakia.
To further muddy the waters, record scorer Rooney has been converted into a midfielder and 18-year-old Rashford remains something of a wild card - but with knockout football now the order of the day, he's a wildcard with a genuine chance of being played.
So what on earth is going on? And who will England turn to for the knockout stages of Euro 2016?
Hodgson's choice: 'We're trying to decide which strike force we're going to use'
Speaking on Tuesday, Roy Hodgson openly accepted that none of his strikers have made an indisputable case to lead the line in the Euro 2016 knockout stage as pressure mounts on the England boss.
Calling it "a headache we have to deal with", the former Liverpool, Fulham and West Brom boss admitted that none of his players has really lit up the tournament.
"All of them have shown a lot of qualities in the games but none of them, as yet, have really shown they are able to score the goals we need," said Hodgson.
"We will have the headache of trying to decide which strike force we're going to use.
"I thought Lallana, Sterling and Kane did very well against Russia but in the second game, when we weren't scoring goals, I gave Vardy and Sturridge a chance and they scored goals and won the game for us.
"(They) kept their place in the team...who knows what happens next time?"
The real issue: England have been good without being great
Making things more awkward still is the fact that England have been good without being great.
The side created a tournament high of 65 chances in Group B, but have converted only three of those - or two, when you consider that Eric Dier's goal against Russia came from a free-kick.
Add in the fact that Jamie Vardy's strike against Wales relied on a moment of cruel misfortune for the Welsh: defender Ashley Williams inadvertently played Vardy onside, otherwise the goal would not have stood.
That leaves only Sturridge's late winner against Wales as a pure creation of an England attacking move.
The half-chances came thick and fast throughout all three matches; the genuine breakthroughs were as rare as hen's teeth.
Demonstrations of skill are pointless without end product - whether in the form of clear chances, or the build-up of pressure which leads to opponents breaking down. As slick as England have looked, their displays have been more fitting of a training match than a European Championship game.
Hodgson is unabashed, however, and insists that things will pick up - despite admitting that the criticism is understandable: "I think all of these guys are scorers. The fact is at the moment because we haven't scored many, sometimes there's very difficult questions to defend."
What's on the line: Hodgson's risks horrifying the FA
Wayne Rooney has come out during the tournament to make it clear that he and the rest of the squad are keen for Hodgson to remain on board. The decision will not be theirs to make, however.
The 68-year-old boss made six changes to his starting line-up for the Russia match, and his decisions have reportedly gone down badly with the FA hierarchy. That has endangered the coach's chances of staying on after the tournament, according to a report in the Guardian: "Hodgson has the backing of at least one key decision-maker but has been heavily criticised by others and finishing as runners-up to Wales has not helped his cause at a time when [FA chief Greg] Dyke has also stated the FA is looking for clear signs of improvement."
Hodgson's case will be strengthened the further England go in France, but given that he appears to have no idea of how to get the right formula in attack.
"I never have regrets if the team has played well," he said.
"I look at the way the team played and I don't honestly believe any players I could have put out there would have done a lot different to the ones that actually played from the start or came on in the game."
Expert view: 'If anyone's happy with England, they don't understand football'
Writing in his Eurosport column on Tuesday, Paul Parker put it this way: "If anyone says they are happy with England’s performance against Slovakia because we had a lot of the ball and created a lot of chances, I would say that they don’t really understand football.
"You can use statistics to make any case but the basic truth is that England were playing against a very poor team and they couldn’t score a goal. I don’t care how much possession or how many shots they had; by the time they got to the final third they were nothing more than half-chances. England wasted a very good opportunity to finish top of the group and that is what really counts, not the numbers behind the result...
"England could have generated forward momentum; really made a statement about what they intend to do in the Euros and in the knockouts. Instead they squandered all that. They finished second in the group instead of finishing first and will have a harder route in the knockouts as a result. And for what?... We left ourselves open to being pushed into third and gambling on that was utterly ludicrous."
The Answer: Time to gamble on Rashford
Roy Hodgson has already gambled several times with his selections and substitutions at Euro 2016.
So why not up the ante a little further, argued Eurosport's Kevin Coulson, who was at the England match on Monday:
"The best option could be Marcus Rasford. The Manchester United youngster used his pace brilliantly against Wales when he was brought on late in search of the crucial second goal. He beat defenders down the left, showed some nice skill on the ball and would link up with club-mate Wayne Rooney on that flank," he wrote.
"He also has experience playing across the forward line from his youth days so positionally would be fine. With the rest of the team exactly the same as the first two matches, Hodgson could not be accused of too much of a gamble this time around.
Additional reporting by PA
