Gareth Southgate pleaded for England's supporters to "stay with the team", after venting their frustration following the goalless draw with Slovenia.
The Three Lions advanced to the Euro 2024 knockout stages as Group C winners, despite winning just one of their opening three games and scoring two goals.
Southgate's side, who came under scrutiny following their 1-1 draw with Denmark, did little to silence those critics with another underwhelming performance against the Slovenians.
Despite dominating large periods of the contest with 74% of possession, it yielded an expected goals (xG) tally of just 0.87, with the front three of Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden registering just two shots on target between them.
Sections of England fans jeered their team at the final whistle, while hurling empty drinks cups in the direction of Southgate as he applauded them.
The Three Lions boss empathised with the supporters, but urged them to point the finger of blame at him, rather than his players.
"I understand it. I'm not going to back away from it," he told reporters during his post-match press conference. "The most important thing is the supporters stay with the team.
"I understand the narrative towards me, and 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.
"[The players] kept composure in a game where they've come into a really challenging environment. Of course, we'd love a couple of goals that sends everybody home happy. But we were definitely an improvement on what we did in the last game."
"I think the changes we made had a positive effect on the game tonight. We weren't able to find the right pass, the final finish. But we are improving."
Despite the disappointment at their performance levels, England have managed to avoid the half of the draw that includes the likes of France, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
The Three Lions will play either the Netherlands, who finished third in Group D, or Group E's third-placed side in the round of 16 in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday.
And Southgate knows a positive atmosphere within the camp will be crucial as the Euro 2020 finalists target another deep run in this competition.
"You never want to look back having not topped the group and spiral into tough matches where people can then accuse you that, because you didn't win the group, you've ended up with a tougher draw," he added.
"We have made England over the last three or four years fun again. I think it has been enjoyable for the players, and we have got to be very, very careful that it stays that way."
Kompany hopes Kane injury against Leverkusen is 'nothing serious'
Vincent Kompany is hopeful Harry Kane's knock is nothing serious, after the Bayern Munich striker limped off during the 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.
The England captain, who did not register a single shot during the game, was injured in a collision late on at the Allianz Arena, where Aleksandar Pavlovic cancelled out Robert Andrich's earlier effort.
The stalemate saw Bayern drop their first points of the Bundesliga season, while they turn their attention back to the Champions League with a trip to face Aston Villa in midweek.
Whether Kane features at Villa Park remains to be seen, but Kompany hopes his forward is fit for a return to England.
"I'm not a doctor, but I hope it's nothing serious," the Bayern boss told Sky Sports. "It's still early to say. Hopefully, he'll be fit for Wednesday."
Although Bayern's 100% start to the league campaign is no more, Kompany saw plenty of positives in his side's display.
"As a Bayern coach, you always want to win," he added. "But the performance was as we'd hoped. The counter-pressing was positive, we won the second balls, we created so many chances.
"Normally, in such a game, you don't create many chances, but we did. It was a top game, but there are still many games to go. We just have to keep going."
Slot not entertaining title talk as Liverpool go top
Arne Slot believes it is too early to speak of his Liverpool side as title contenders after they ran out 2-1 winners at Wolves to go top of the Premier League.
Ibrahim Konate had given Slot’s men the lead on the stroke of half-time but the home side levelled soon after the restart through Rayan Ait-Nouri.
Moments later, Nathan Semedo bundled over Diogo Jota in the penalty area and Mohamed Salah made no mistake from the spot to continue his and Liverpool’s fine start to the season.
The Egyptian has now scored 10 winning goals in the competition from the spot, only bettered by Alan Shearer with 12 and Frank Lampard with 18.
Despite going top, Slot insisted it was too early to speak of his side as title contenders, with just six league games played.
He said: “It feels good, you want to be up there but it doesn’t tell me that much at the moment.
"If you look at Wolves they are down in the table but they played much better than that today. After 19 games, it’ll tell me something, but not after six."
Slot praised his opposite number Gary O’Neil for causing his side some problems early on, but once tactical adjustments were made, the Dutchman was pleased with the amount of control his side exerted.
He told Sky Sports: "I don't think we started well, but we have to give credit to Wolves and Gary O'Neil.
"They had a really good gameplan. We had some problems in the first 20 minutes, but afterwards we took control of the game.
"We were patient and kept circulating the ball and kept waiting for the right moment to bring the ball in."
Wolves’ poor run of form continues and they sit bottom of the league, with no wins to their name and just a solitary point from their first six games.
O’Neil was still proud of his players after a narrow defeat and is adamant his side have deserved more points from their opening matches than the table suggests.
"They went toe-to-toe with one of the biggest clubs in the country,” said O’Neil.
“I am gutted for the lads, with what they have given in the last six games, they deserve more points.
"The responsibility of the result... I accept that, but I also need to praise the lads for delivering performances against opposition like this.
"I know them well enough that they will feel disappointed for a day, then they will be ready to go again."
The 41-year-old, who joined the club on the eve of the 2023-24 season, admits he has no control over whether he will continue as head coach.
"I can't control other people's belief in me. All I can do is the best I can do," he said.
First win of the season a 'relief' for Everton boss Dyche
Sean Dyche expressed his relief after Everton earned their first three points of the season through a Dwight McNeil brace at Goodison Park.
The hosts conceded early as Marc Guehi put Crystal Palace a goal to the good after 10 minutes, as Everton were again undone following a set-piece.
But a fine second-half display from McNeil saw two excellent finishes carry Everton over the line.
It was the first time this season Dyche's side had managed to maintain a lead, with the Toffees having dropped points from winning positions in their last three Premier League matches.
Following news of a possible takeover for the Merseyside club this week by The Friedkin Group, who also own Roma, Dyche was relieved to secure his first victory of the season, and just a sixth league win of 2024.
"I'm delighted for the players, they worked very hard to change a scoreline around," the Everton manager told BBC Sport.
"You know there’s been question marks over many things, and of course, there's been a bit of relief there for me today and relief for the players, and that’s a human thing.
"There's a lot of demand here that we put on ourselves, and we have to answer to that and I thought we did today. We certainly did enough to win the game and that’s what was important."
Everton are yet to keep a clean sheet in the Premier League this season, though Jarrad Branthwaite's return from injury was a major bright spot.
And the Everton defence did look stronger despite a shaky first-half display. The visitors accrued an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.85 from 17 shots.
"It was a bit of nervousness. When you haven’t got that first win you feel nervous. Then you go 1-0 down, the stadium becomes awkward for the players," Dyche explained.
"I spoke to them in the second half about being someone who makes a difference. It’s every person that counts, not just one."
Everton proved far more clinical thanks to McNeil's long-range effort on 47 minutes. They finished on 0.91 xG from just eight shots.
"I thought the feel of the second half was better, not just the quality. Dwight popping up with two goals for two different reasons and some good energy in our play and the big moments went for us today," said Dyche.
Crystal Palace also had the better share of possession with 59.4%, a source of disappointment for boss Oliver Glasner.
"Over 70-75 minutes we controlled the game, but you must be focused all game. It is a big strength of Everton's in set-plays. They do it well and we defended it most of the time really well," he told BBC Sport.
"We tried everything, we changed the system, brought on all our offensive players. They defended with 10 players around their box so we didn't have a lot of space so it was difficult.
"Today we couldn't score the equaliser. If you concede two goals it's not so easy to get a point or to win."
It leaves the visitors without a win in their last six games in the Premier League.
"We know it when we look at the table. Maybe it is a welcome back to reality. Maybe we were flying too high after a great finish to the season. The Premier League is a fight," Glasner added.
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