England were booed and chants of ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’ rang around Molineux as the Three Lions fell to a shocking 4-0 loss against Hungary.
But the reception they received was ‘generous’, according to talkSPORT’s Adrian Durham, who said England looked like a team of ‘strangers’.
The Three Lions suffered their worst home defeat since 1928 to a team who have failed to qualify for the World Cup.
Gareth Southgate’s side have been unable to find a win in the competition, with England currently sitting bottom of the group.
And their performance on Tuesday night drew an unfriendly reception from the crowd, something which Durham believes was more than justified.
“Well England got away with it in terms of the boos,” talkSPORT’s Durham said at half-time.
“I think the England fans have been quite generous.”
He continued: “England have been somewhere between mediocre and useless I’d say in this first half.”
And following the game, Durham didn’t hold back in explaining just how poor Southgate’s side were at Molineux.
“I think Gareth Southgate is lucky a lot of England fans left long before the final whistle otherwise the boos would be even louder here at Molineux.” he said.
“My eyes hurt, and I’m sorry about your ears. Lifeless. Negative. Difficult to watch. Just awful, it was difficult, nearing on painful to watch.”
He went on: “Now Gareth’s mindset going into the Nations League was very negative and boy have those players seized hold of that and run with it.
“Very, very poor. There’s no defending this… I think this was worse than that Iceland performance at Euro ’16.
“Absolutely dreadful from England tonight to a packed Molineux, they’ve come out to watch this after three poor games in the Nations League, they’ve had to sit through this utter garbage from England.
“The players look like total and utter strangers.”
Former England star Stuart Pearce joined Durham in Wolverhampton, and he was also left feeling concerned by England’s performance, highlighting Manchester City defender Stones’ role in Hungary’s goal.
After the first half, Pearce said: “The more worrying thing is every time the opposition go to take, John Stones is immediately dropping two or three yards before everyone else.
“He’s playing the opposition on side.”
Stones was later shown a red card in the second half following a second yellow – something that Pearce had predicted at the break.
“I think sheer frustration from John Stones has ended up with him getting booked. He’s said ‘I’m going to put a marker down here’.” he said.
“In tournament football with an elbow flailing like that, if a red card comes out, we may not be surprised.”
But ultimately, it was the team’s overall showing that worried Pearce.
“I am one of the most positive England fans there is, but I didn’t see this result coming. I didn’t see this performance coming from our players.”
Source: Talk Sport