Sylvain Distin told English football: Don't blame us foreigners.
Distin's blast came as Italian Fabio Capello succeeded Steve McClaren as international boss.
But Distin refuted the idea the influx of foreign players was the reason for the terrible state of the senior team.
The 28-year-old pointed to the success of France at international level, despite the high number of foreigners in their domestic game, as evidence that argument is flawed.
He told The News: 'I am surprised when I read in the paper that England doesn't succeed because of us foreigners.
'Nobody forces us to come here. I have been asked to come in here and I have.
'I feel good here. I haven't stopped anyone taking my place if they are better than me.
'So I don't understand it. People always look for excuses when they fail but I don't understand where it has come from.
'Why do we want to talk about it? I only talk about something when I think it is important or personal.
'It is not important to me because it means nothing.
'It is not because of the number of foreigners that English football fails. The problem's more than that.
'In France we have many foreigners and have succeeded.'
