Declan Rice joins Harry Kane in hitting back at former England players for their criticism of Gareth Southgate's team at Euro 2024

Declan Rice has become the latest member of Gareth Southgate's squad to hit back at negative comments from a number of former England players.

England have made a solid start to Euro 2024 in terms of results, taking four points from their opening two games.

But their performances against Serbia and Denmark have been widely criticised in the media, including by multiple ex-pros who previously represented the Three Lions at major tournaments.

Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and Rio Ferdinand all condemned England's performance in the 1-1 draw against Denmark on Tuesday in their roles as pundits. 

Lineker then went as far as saying the Three Lions were 's***' on his podcast, The Rest Is Football.

Jarrod Bowen expressed his shock at Lineker's comment before England captain Harry Kane warned that negative words from former players can be harmful.

Rice - who has played every minute of his team's Euros campaign so far this summer - was then asked in an interview with ITV on Sunday if he was disappointed to hear so much criticism from former England players.

The Arsenal midfielder replied: 'I'm not disappointed because I've played football long enough now, I know how they work. That's why I really do not get bothered about it at all.

'Look, they're entitled to their opinion. They're on the TV, they're saying whatever they want.

'I know some of them personally, they're great guys. But, like I said, they've been in our shoes as well. Sometimes [they should] just have that thought of process just before they speak that they have been where I'm sat, where our other players have sat, and not done well at tournaments.

'So look, I don't know why we feel like it (England's start to the Euros) is such a negative thing. We're talking like we're going out of the tournament here.

'We are top of the group. We need to stay positive, stay upbeat. Let's have some positivity going into games. Let's give players the best confidence in the world.

'Your players like Phil Foden, [Bukayo] Saka, Jude Bellingham... tell them they're the best players in the world. Make them read that and think: "I'm going to go out there and perform and give it absolutely everything", rather than reading the negative comments, it sitting on their mind and then thinking that they can't play a certain way.

'That's the way I think about it and I'm sure we have enough of them people as well, which is good.'

England will win Group C if they beat Slovenia on Tuesday. A draw would be enough to top the group as long as Denmark do not win against Serbia.