Manchester United legend Gary Neville has defended the English player.

England coach Neville has jumped to the defence of the English DNA saying it is built on hard work.

Neville told The Times: "We've got to be careful. When people talk about the DNA of English football, we've got one: we work hard, we're organised, structured, resilient, hard to beat. Not bad qualities.

"Go back over the last 20 years - last year Italy, even though you can argue they performed better than us, didn't beat us; Portugal in 2004 and 2006 didn't beat us; 1998, Argentina, we were down to ten men for 70-odd minutes and they didn't beat us; in 1996, Germany didn't beat us. So let's not give away what we're good at.

"People say we don't have a DNA? Give me a break. We have a DNA as a country - British Standards, the British legal system, solidity, structure, organisation, that never-say-die spirit.

"We're not arrogant, we're the first to take the mickey out of ourselves and be down on ourselves. We're trying to take the best of that and add a higher level of flair and technical ability."