England's hopes of competing in Euro 2008 were over as they suffered a 3-2 defeat at home to Croatia this week. The players were booed off the field at half time by England fans, with suggestion that the players just were not trying hard enough.

David Beckham was brought on as a sub in the second half and had a very positive effect on the game. It was his ball which set up Crouch to bring the score to 2-2 before Croatia scored the winner.

The former England captain has spoken out on behalf of the team about how they are feeling.

"Without a doubt there will be a backlash. It is about how we deal with it. If you are going to play and perform at this level, then you've got to take the good with the bad," he said.

"We've had good times and I've known the bad times, but it is all about coming back from that. When things go bad, the amount of money players earn always gets thrown at them. Of course it does.

"When people are seeing the amount of money in football, and the amount players earn, people want results and we've not got the results and not qualified.

"There is going to be a backlash and it's about how we handle it.

"Do the England players want success enough? Without a doubt. Everyone of those players in the dressing room have all played in big games. I've captained many of those players and I know how much it hurts them when things go badly.

"I know how much it hurts them to lose a tackle, let alone lose a game and be knocked out of a tournament, so there will be a lot of players hurting.

"Is it a mental thing? Certain parts of playing for your country is a mental thing, playing in front of so many people at Wembley.

"But the players we've got in our changing room, the characters we've got, are players used to playing in big games. They are used to playing for big teams, so I don't think that is part of that."