Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has jumped to the defence of England coach Fabio Capello.
United boss Ferguson backed Capello, even though two of his players suffered groin injuries while with England - central defenders Rio Ferdinand and Chris Smalling.
Fergie said of Capello: "He's getting hammered again, yet it was a friendly game and people are getting paranoid.
"He has six or seven young players in the team - like Kieran Gibbs, Jordan Henderson and Andy Carroll - and the criticism is over the top.
"If he had played all his big hitters, he'd probably have got a better result.
"But Ashley Cole and John Terry withdrew, Frank Lampard was not available and Wayne Rooney was not fit."
And on Gerrard, Fergie said: "I don't know the situation but you can't be precise and Fabio was in a difficult situation because England were losing.
"Rio injured his groin and Smalling did his groin in training but we didn't have an arrangement with England about Rio.
"I'm not surprised if some clubs did, as we have in the past.
"I would outline the situation with our players, particularly if it was March and you had European ties coming up - we did that.
"An international boss has to have that flexibility to work with clubs. He needs our help - and we need his help, too."
