England U21 manager Stuart Pearce has blasted critics who have spoken out about his Young Lions.
Pearce's side drew 1-1 with Spain in their opening European Championships match in Denmark on Sunday but the performance drew plenty of disparaging remarks from some sections of the media who feel that the England team was inferior to the Spaniards.
But Pearce has hit back hard saying it is an English way to prop youngsters up on a pedestal before cutting them down as something goes wrong.
"We're fantastic at that in our country, at knocking young players, or elevating them ridiculously high," said Pearce.
"I've got no real interest at all in what people speculate and what they write back home.
"They're only doing it because they've got a vested interest somewhere else."
And Pearce said that the next group stage match, against Ukraine (who lost to Czech) on Wednesday, is certainly a dangerous outing for his side.
"Everyone's going into the second group games with slightly different mentalities," added Pearce.
"The Czechs have got the luxury of three points, the Spanish and us have just got the one point.
"Ukraine are probably under a touch more pressure than the rest of us, having no points at the moment and knowing full well they've probably got to win both matches."
