Steven Gerrard has hit out at the "unfair" questioning of his and his England team-mates' commitment to their country.
Gerrard produced an inspirational captain's performance at Wembley on Wednesday evening to rescue his side from an embarrassing friendly defeat against Hungary.
The match was England's first since their dismal World Cup displays and - as expected - certain individuals were booed at times during the 2-1 victory.
As one of his country's better performers in South Africa, Gerrard was largely spared the jeers.
But that did not stop him celebrating his equaliser by whipping up the Wembley crowd and he revealed afterwards it had been in response to recent criticism of the team.
"The players have had a lot of criticism of late, a lot of it really fair and some of it unfair," said the Liverpool skipper, who scored both England goals tonight.
"Because, a lot of criticism had been directed at us saying that we don't care and it doesn't mean anything for us to play for England.
"So I think from my reaction for the first goal, you can see how much it means to myself and the players to be part of this group."
He added: "Unfair criticism hurts as a player because there's no need for it."
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