The Three Lions opened Euro 2024 with an underwhelming 1-0 victory over Serbia and Southgate suggested that the criticism reflects how supporters can be hard to please.

The England boss said ahead of Thursday's (20.06.24) match against Denmark: "I’ve been in this environment for eight years so I understand it all. It used to annoy me and now I’m ambivalent to it.

"Winning matches in tournaments is incredibly hard. In this tournament you’ve now got incredible support for all the teams in the stadiums as well which is a little different to the last two tournaments.

"We’ve had some good results over the years so maybe even we take results for granted, I should let the boys enjoy it more than they do. I hope they have a little bit longer than me!

"There should be more joy in it but it’s not my reality if I’m frank. My focus is to get qualified from the group, two tough opponents and two games to achieve that."

Southgate admits that it can be hard to accept criticism when matches are won but accepts that it comes with the job as England boss.

He told BBC Sport: "The environment around England is one of the hardest things to deal with.

"It is not necessarily about playing against the opponent, it’s about dealing with everything."

Southgate knows England can play better than they did against Serbia but was also pleased with how his team coped under pressure during the second half.

The coach said: "We know we have good players, we know we can play better than the other day.

"But I thought the players, in an incredibly pressurised moment, started exceptionally well and defended brilliantly throughout the whole game. I think they’ll be better for having a game under their belt.

"Emotionally there’s so much tension, I don’t think people can really understand what it is like for young players. We are pleased to have got a result from that and we know we have to be good tomorrow."