Gareth Southgate criticises fans for what they did after the final whistle

Gareth Southgate slightly criticises fans for what they did after the final whistle, and the response hasn’t gone down well online.

The Three Lions boss called on the nation not to turn on his young squad after they were heavily booed off by their own following a lacklustre goalless draw against Scotland.

Southgate, who made some questionable substitutions in the closing stages of the game, backed his players to bounce back from the disappointment – but admitted his team must improve after only securing a point against Steve Clarke’s men.

England, who were second favourites to win the Euros, remain in control of their group going into Tuesday’s final group game against the Czech Republic, but their performance was met with fury by supporters at Wembley.

You could hear just how loud the boos, to the extent that viewers watching the game back home couldn’t even hear what Harry Kane had to say in response to questions from the interviewer.

Southgate said: ‘Our fans are entitled to react however they want. We have to accept whatever comes our way. We have deal and live with that.

‘What I will say is that I’m totally understanding of that as manager, I totally understand anything that comes my way – what we need to do is get behind the players because there are a lot of young players that need the support of everybody.

‘Most of them haven’t been involved in a game like that before and they are unique occasions.

‘They will learn from it and bounce back but will need everybody behind them.

‘I think it was a frustrating night, we know we can play better. We’ve got to give Scotland credit they defended valiantly and played well.

‘We didn’t do enough to win the game but after that the thing we have to worry about in tournament football after that is we had to make sure we didn’t lose it.

‘We know it’s a disappointment for our supporters, but we have to dust ourselves down and move on.

‘The whole team can look at ourselves, that starts with me, we’ve got to be better.

‘We didn’t do enough to win the game tonight, not enough attempts on goal, we have to go away and look at that.

‘I know exactly where this team is – it’s a young team and some of them won’t have experienced a night under this intensity and pressure, that’s a huge learning for then. That’s what we have to look at moving forward.’

“Fans are entitled to react however they want…we understand their reaction”

Gareth Southgate has his say on England fans booing the team off the pitch after their draw with Scotland#ENG #SCO #ENGSCO #EURO2020 #TartanArmy #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/ewcjPD8IEB

— The Sun Football ⚽ (@TheSunFootball) June 19, 2021

Southgate has hinted at making changes to his starting XI for Tuesday’s now crucial game against the Czechs adding: ‘I felt the team that started against Croatia deserved to go again so we have to review now and make the right decision for the Czech Republic game.

‘The games are intense and you have fresh legs to bring into play, we have a squad and have to use it. We took the captain Harry Kane off but the types of players on the bench, we have to use them.’

The draw leaves Scotland with a realistic chance of qualifying for the knockout stages heading into their final group game against Croatia.

‘A good night, we played well. We were unfairly criticised after the game on Monday I know I have a good group of players and they showed that tonight, delighted for my players and staff,’ said Scots boss Steve Clarke.

‘We had chances to win, England had moments as well, looking at this you wouldn’t have known which is the favourite which is a credit to us.

‘The most pleasing thing was we played when we had the ball and created a number of chances.’

Twitter users reacted Gareth Southgate criticises fans for what they did after the final whistle…

Is he joking? Fans paid upwards of £100 to watch some of the most exciting young players in the world and they played absolutely abysmal because of an incompetent manager. The players and Southgate deserved all the boos they got. https://t.co/vmepOVWZdv

— Oliver 🇵🇸 (@OllieBFC2003) June 19, 2021

@ChrisGagg: I’ve paid a tonne of money to turn up and watch that Matt. If the player put in the effort I did to get there today they’d have won 4-0. My money… my right to boo

@Son_Lyme: yes really Matt. The most talented squad in a generation and the FA appoint a donkey to lead them …

@jackbyrne91: There is zero support for the approach Southgate is taking. Exciting young players and he gets all the big decisions wrong, sets up so negatively and defensive every single game.

@wearebrighton: Yeah, I can’t believe the nerve of people voicing their dissatisfaction at spending £120 for a 0-0 draw either

@ToonMouthTyne: Yes. Booing. That was shambolic. We’re booing the manager too.

@FootieIndexAl: Appalling. Fully deserve boos and I’m not a booer generally!

@AVFCFaithful_: It’s was an absolutely terrible performance.

@rmbfc1: Yes. Embarrassing performance.

@josh_kingsnorth: That was an absolute shit show, the boos are completely justified especially after the ticket prices probably cost a bomb

@matthicksonsfc: Fucking horrendous. Deserved all the boos they got

@cfcc_connor: Yes we were shit

@_CFC_Luke: Yes they deserved to get booed half of them

@tovers98: Poor showing, and fans that paid £100 to witness that I feel for them

@chiddyafc: Kane doing the interview with boos in the background I’m coughing blood 😭😭😭

@swansforever: You can’t hear Harry Kane through all the booing 😬

@dan63uk: Kane interview drowned out by crowd booing !!!!!

@pedalsingh: Kane had a poor poor night.. and this interview sort of sums it up.. 😂😂

@SK_arsenal: They’re turning against him and his poor tactical choices, not the players.

@LordCKS: We are turning on you Gareth, not the team.

@EllisADay: I mean the clear issue here is Southgate. Awful tactics, team selection and subs. Granted some players haven’t performed but it’s the managers responsibility to pick those in form…

@LCFCFamily: If you pay to get in and see a performance like that you are entitled to boo

@_ElliotAV: We’re not turning on the team. We’re turning on you.

@OlIyCFC: Sure mate, we’ll turn on you instead.

@CFCJourno: More like, he’s deflecting attention away from himself, by suggesting fans would rather criticise players than his cautious tactics and rigid formation

@SilviRich: Booing will give the players fire to play better

@Jonny_morgs: They probably paid £100 + to watch that dross. If you had to pay the same, you probably wouldn’t have done too

@Matt1978H: Horrific game, set up far too cautiously, game plan was far too cautious. They deserve the boos.

@jakewaysdaz: Deserved boos totally, Southgate got lucky at World Cup now being found out, tepid stuff, the Graeme Jones effect

@longjohnstuart3: Disappointment overwhelming after all the hype.

@meeky91: I would too. That was appalling

@AFCLawesy: just lucky there were only 20,000 rather than the full 90,000

@Brett291: Awful performance worthy of being told it wasn’t good enough and if the only voice you have is a boo. Take it!

@milksgoneoff: Deserved every boo, it was so slow and ponderous. On the rare few occasions the inside ball forward was on, they turned back to play safe. It was terrible tonight.

@SamGibson_91: Absolutely deserve to be booed off after that. Shameful performance. But Southgate to blame. Thinks he is cleverer than he is when in reality he’s never won a thing. Leaving on Sterling and not bringing on Sancho or DCL to try and win it was criminal

@ollyfitz123: Fans who paid a lot of money to go the game have a right after that performance

@n200518: Today proved that @England cannot win the Euros. It is not just the result but also how we played v quite a weak team and despite strength and depth in our squad. No wonder fans are booing and rightly so. Euros is basically over for us.

As Gareth Southgate criticises fans for what they did after the final whistle, would you have done the same after watching that performance? Let us know via our socials!