I also don't understand the sudden love for Santos from some on this board. Go back and watch our games in qualifying and major tournaments under him and you'll see the truth: horrific, dysfunctional, donkey-ball (see how Russia played during Euro 2016 to get a good estimate of this). Now admittedly, we had a few good games under him (Romania playoff, Ivory Coast WC come to mind) but that was always the exception rather than the rule. Did we grind out results? Sure; but eking out 1-0 wins by the skin-of-our-teeth against nothing teams was never going to be sustainable going forward; especially as the rest of Europe is getting better. Some will say that he did what he could with the personnel at his disposal. To that I say sure, if that personnel includes Kats, Kara, and Tziolis. I believe we have (and had at the time) better, and in my humble opinion Santos' biggest crime was not blooding the younger generation in sooner. Now we're left to reap what he's sown.
Don't get me wrong, I am not laying all of the blame for the current debacle at his feet. The players should be ashamed of themselves for their abject lack of professionalism and shockingly poor form. EPO should be ashamed of themselves for their terrible planning and mismanagement (and corruption but that goes without saying).
As for Santos, I congratulate him on his results with Portugal but I still contend that they've been lucky. They did not play well during the group stage and they've been lucky to have a (relatively) easy path to the final.