Jamie Carragher has slammed the "clowns" who jeered and questioned Gareth Southgate as England were beaten by Hungary.
The Three Lions endured one of their worst nights in decades, losing 4-0 to their European counterparts in the Nations League at Molineux. It was England's worst reverse on home soil for well over half a century as alarm bells were rang ahead of the World Cup.
It brings down the curtain on a disappointing fortnight in which England have failed to win any of their last four games - drawing two and scoring just the once. Fans were understandably frustrated and booed at full-time whilst also slamming Southgate.
Carragher has been quick to hit back and remind them that the England boss has led the nation to the semi-finals of the World Cup and the final of the Euros. He tweeted: "'You don’t know what you’re doing' shut up you clowns. This manager has taken the country in two tournaments to the best positions since 1966.
His Sky Sports colleague Gary Neville, who too has been a big advocate of Southgate, added: "Sympathy for the fans and for the players. This isn’t right. Players/Coaches will have to collectively come together to start to influence the programme to get that clear break.."
Southgate confessed after the game that such a reaction did hurt but understood the emotion of the fans. He rotated the squad and admitted that the results were on him. He told Channel 4 : “Yes of course (he can understand them). In the end, this is about winning matches with England. Tonight was the sort of night that a lot of my predecessors have had and experienced, and it’s difficult.
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"I’m not going to say it doesn’t hurt, but it’s very clear to me what we were trying to do across the four matches, and the irony is that the two Nations League campaigns have been the ones that have heaped negativity and pressure onto us. I’ve got to go with that and it’s my job to protect the players. The results are my responsibility.”
Captain Harry Kane, who scored the only goal in England's last four games, hit back and was keen to take fans down memory lane as he reminded them of their recent exploits: "We’re preparing for a big World Cup, and will learn a lot from this camp. Let’s not forget where we’ve come from: a first final in 60 years, and a semi-final at a World Cup.
"Compared to where we were over the last 50 years, it’s no time to panic. It’s not going to be perfect every game, the fans have to understand that.”
