Matt Dawson column: Why England need less talk and more action before they face Scotland

England have got to dust themselves off pretty quickly after Sunday's defeat in Paris and get stuck into their game against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.

I do not think they helped themselves in the build-up to the France game. Head coach Eddie Jones was talking about them being the greatest team.

England are a mile away from greatness. It is the wrong strap-line to have. It detracts from what you need to be doing day-to-day to win these kinds of games.

You cannot lose sight of what it is like to be an England rugby player. Everybody hates you. It is not a normal existence as a sportsperson.

It does not matter who you play against. They all hate England and want to beat England so they will welcome any minute motivation.

France's English defence coach Shaun Edwards would have been stomping around the changing rooms saying: "They're going to be more brutal than you boys, they're going to put you in a box, they want to be the greatest team in the world."

I know what I would feel like if I was sat in that dressing room in a French shirt and the opposition were saying that. I would think, 'you utter fools.' I would do whatever I could possibly do to get myself in the frame of mind to shove that down your neck.

I cannot get my head around why you would say it. It is not a problem if you keep it in house, but you do not wind up the opposition by being arrogant in any way.

This week it is time to not do any talking: let's see the action at the weekend. You would like to think there is going to be a bit of bounce back from England.

• Rugby Union Weekly: Spills, spirals and Centre Parks

• 'England defeat by France a tale of individual errors and confused tactics'

• Error-strewn England lose to resurgent France

They have the physical edge over Scotland, but maybe Eddie just keep it to yourself. Show a bit of humility, go up to Murrayfield hurting and somehow put a damp blanket over that Scottish fire that is going to be burning as a result of not winning in Dublin.

Scotland probably walked away desperately disappointed, thinking they should have had that win against Ireland, and will be fired up.

But England know how to win away from home. They have got motivation from last year when they did not get it right against the Scots.

England kicking that goal at the end to get a losing bonus point against France was a statement of admission that they did not play well on Sunday but that they want to take every point and feel they can regroup and get stuck into Scotland next week.

If they win all four games now, it gives them a huge amount of momentum and the ball will be in France's court, but they can only affect next week. They can't get too far ahead of themselves.

• We felt sorry for ourselves and were out of kilter - Jones

• Bonus podcast: Confusing England and the Edwards effect

'A confusing England performance'

I was confused by how England tried to play against France and the lack of direction from the senior players under pressure in adversity away from home.

I get confused by them making the wrong decisions under pressure because they are such great players - they have won loads of Premiership and European trophies.

England's team strategy and execution has got to be worked on. They had too many opportunities close to the line which they did not convert.

Unfortunately there appeared to be a World Cup hangover which I did not envisage at all. I thought England would be stepping forward and learning from their mistakes.

There are things you should have in your armoury for the next time a game like the World Cup final comes around. It came around in the next game and England did not have an answer.

• Chris Robshaw: Harlequins' former England skipper to leave club after 16 years

I do not know what was going on with Owen Farrell. You are not going to drop Owen Farrell but he definitely was not his normal self. There was something not quite right.

He did not show the leadership skills that we have come to expect. There is definitely something that needs to be solved there.

I thought Ben Youngs played all right but at this stage in the cycle, Eddie's going to be looking for people to be stepping up and running the game.

If we are not winning those games and putting ourselves under undue pressure, unfortunately the scrum-half tends to get the axe for that. I would not be surprised if Willi Heinz came in for the Scotland game.

Selection errors 'cost England dearly'

I do not think Eddie's selection was right. I am reluctant to fire the majority of the team, they have got a really talented squad, but too many of the players did not click and made too many mistakes.

Not having a regular number eight cost England dearly. It fundamentally changed the balance of how England played. You did not have a Tom Curry and Sam Underhill combination because Tom had a lot of number eight duties to fulfil.

You know it is not quite right when the referee is coaching the number eight halfway through the first half as to where he can and cannot bind on the scrum. I laughed to myself.

• Subscribe to the Rugby Union Weekly podcast

I am not a huge fan of playing people out of position when you have got other players who play that position week in week out.

I would like to see Curry and Underhill play at six and seven and see Harlequins' Alex Dombrandt or Exeter's Sam Simmonds play at eight.

And given the strength in depth in the second row, Charlie Ewels did not do enough to show he was head and shoulders above Courtney Lawes or George Kruis.

It was a tough night for full-back George Furbank, who was making his debut. I hope he does not get judged on one game on a wet evening in Paris.

He had a couple of opportunities and maybe did not do what he would have liked to have done. I hope he does get another opportunity.

'France are favourites to win the Six Nations'

France are Grand Slam contenders. Edwards is incredibly special. He has been embraced and is going to be a huge influence on that squad.

It angers me that he has never coached England. He is one of the greatest English coaches there has ever been and we have never had him in the international set-up. It is a shambles.

But France are in really good shape. We are all waxing lyrical about how exciting this new generation of French rugby players is.

There is no reason why France should not be maintaining the sort of confidence we saw against England and building on that performance.

After round one I would say they are favourites to win the Championship.

Matt Dawson was speaking to BBC Sport's Becky Grey.