Frustrated fans poke fun at England after another dull Euro 2024 performance

COLOGNE, Germany : While England won their group at Euro 2024 their humdrum scoreless draw against Slovenia on Tuesday, the third dull performance in as many games, had frustrated supporters poking fun at coach Gareth Southgate and his team.

Even Irish-owned airline Ryanair got in on the heckling, writing in a post to the team on X: "That's enough, let's get you home."

The tepid draw launched numerous amusing memes, including a photo of a man sitting facing a brick wall under the words "Watching England play football."

Another showed Southgate planting an England flag at the top of a manure pile, with the words "Group C."

England, who could muster only two goals in three games, enjoyed 70 per cent possession on Tuesday but despite boasting four of the best attackers in European soccer this past season, had just four shots on target.

Many England fans in Cologne beat a hasty exit well before the final whistle, and many of the ones who stayed angrily booed the team off the pitch. A few hurled empty beer cups in Southgate's direction, which had the manager looking shell-shocked in the post-game press conference.

"When there's such a strong association with what the national football team represents in so many ways, and when you don't have success there's always going to be a love-hate relationship," Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou said during Tuesday night's television broadcast.

"Everyone talks about history and the group that win something will leave that behind," he added. "It is natural to feel hurt when criticism comes your way."

Former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville said Southgate's men "looked so basic in the first half."

"It was a struggle to watch but it moved forward a lot in the second