England players hit back at criticism of Serbia win

England players have hit back at the negativity surrounding their opening European Championship victory and revealed Gareth Southgate praised their performance in the dressing room at Gelsenkirchen.

Vice-captain Kyle Walker says a storm has been created around injury worries and inexperience aimed to get inside players’ heads. This comes after Jude Bellingham spoke about “a negative theme around all our games” after his match-winning performance against Serbia.

At the last World Cup, Southgate and his players made pointed references to blocking outside “noise”, while ahead of the Euros the England manager discussed the view of his team being different across Europe from the perspective back home.

“The media like to build up a storm and put thoughts in your head that probably shouldn’t be there,” said Walker. “All of these players are fantastic players, I have played against them numerous times in the Premier League and I know what they can do.

“Never mind who’s here, who’s not here, whoever was going to represent England are very good players. So we use the players that we’ve got and we work to our strengths when other people can cover up other people’s weaknesses, it is as simple as that.”

Southgate’s players returned to their Blankenhain camp immediately after the win at Arena AufSchalke, with the squad doing a warm-down on electric push-bikes on the grounds of their Spa & GolfResort Weimarer Land hotel.

While England could not maintain the pace of their first half against Serbia, Southgate praised their resilience after seeing out the win and putting themselves within a result against Denmark on Thursday of reaching the knockout stages.

Southgate’s backline was highlighted as a potential problem ahead of the finals, with Harry Maguire missing through injury and Luke Shaw sidelined for the group stages. But Marc Guehi’s first tournament appearance alongside other experienced defenders has given optimism to the defence being a platform for success in Germany.

“He was pleased,” said Guehi on Southgate’s reaction in the dressing room moments after the win. “He was pleased with the resilience and the overall togetherness on the pitch. It is so hard at any major tournament. We’re going to have to show that resilience for the rest of the tournament.”

Southgate and his players discussed the criticism around the squad after their disappointing draw against USA at the last World Cup, calling it “the tournament of noise”. The manager urged his players to stay calm and reminded them they were on course to meet their target in the group stage.

His current squad is younger and has 169 caps fewer than his 26 players in Qatar but Guehi is the only inexperienced tournament player in a backline containing Walker, John Stones, Kieran Trippier and Jordan Pickford in goal.

“It was a tough test for everyone. It just helps when you have so many experienced players around you,” said Guehi. “Coming into the backline with guys who have played their fourth or fifth major tournament, they’ve made it easy for me to come in and play and relax. I just enjoyed the occasion.”

Pickford levelled Peter Shilton’s record of 10 clean sheets in tournaments by keeping out Serbia, and he praised his team-mates for their role in the achievement. Despite accusations of not building on Bellingham’s early goal, Pickford insisted: “That was a proper performance in tournament football.

“Everyone knows the quality we have going forward. It’s off the ball where you realise when we are good. We’re working hard off the ball, we’re working hard together. When we lose it we have our shape and we press. We do everything together to get the ball back and get our shape and limit the opposition. Off the ball is more important than on the ball because we know about the quality we have in the team.”

On his clean-sheet record in tournaments, Pickford added: “It’s a great achievement personally but I’ll never take the plaudits myself. I have a full 11 and whoever comes off the bench to help me. I’m there to make saves when the lads need me to be there.

“The lads make the blocks as well so it’s a team effort. To be up there with Peter Shilton, one of the greats of the game, record cap holder, it’s a great privilege. But it’s a team game and we go again to get another clean sheet.”

England had previously only kept two clean sheets in their previous seven games but there is belief in the backline being strong enough to go deep into the tournament again.

“We built this team on clean sheets,” said Declan Rice. “It’s massive. At the last Euros we had five out of seven, at the World Cup we had a lot of clean sheets. We have real defensive solidity and it is about doing it on the night.”

Kieran Trippier added: “Clean sheets are massive. Look at the winners of tournaments, clean sheets are a massive factor. We talk about that a lot. We defend our box well. At the last tournament, we had the most clean sheets and that can get you far. The most important thing is ‘Don’t concede’ and that can get you far, you see the quality we have at the other end.”