Despite winning their group and qualifying for the knockout stages of Euro 2024, England are facing heavy criticism from pundits, ex-players and their own fans after three indifferent performances at the tournament.
They have only scored two goals at the tournament to date and their star players are failing to gel in the final third. The result of England's poor displays has been boos from their own fans after their draws with Denmark and Slovenia which has created enormous pressure on the group to perform against Slovenia.
To make matters worse, Gareth Southgate had plastic cups thrown at him by England fans after the draw with Slovenia. As a result, a lot of the discourse ahead of England's round of 16 clash is around fan discontent. Southgate himself has spoken about the ‘narrative' in recent days. The England boss said:
“I understand it and I’m not going to back away from it. The most important thing is we stay with the team.
“I understand the narrative towards me. That’s better for the team than it being towards them but it is creating an unusual environment to operate in. I’ve not seen any other team qualify and receive similar.”
Jude Bellingham delivers message to England fans ahead of Slovakia tie
Today, it was Jude Bellingham's turn to answer questions about England fans and their lack of support for the England manager.
The Real Madrid man has failed to deliver in England's last two matches and there are some people who believe he should be dropped for the Slovakia match.
I'm going to say it. Jude Bellingham needs to be dropped
— The American Cityzen (@CityzenAmerica) June 25, 2024
Speaking ahead of the game, the 21-year-old said decided to focus on the positives of England support. He said:
“You draw on the fans for energy, especially towards the end of a game and you hear them singing and chanting, You can play at a level that's not your normal or not your best, but the important thing when you're wearing this badge and this shirt is that you're representing them and you don't give up.
“I know there's a lot of negativity outside the camp and the stadiums, but I always feel when we get in the stadium, it's so different.”
“I think it's important as teammates and as a team, we remember that the ones in the stadium are the ones who are going to give us the energy so don't worry about those who aren't there. We've got to keep using that energy and that feeling that we get from them to be successful in this tournament.”