Rio Ferdinand sides with Harry Kane and Declan Rice and admits Gary Lineker may have gone too far in branding England's performance against Denmark s***

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Rio Ferdinand has defended Harry Kane and Declan Rice after their public rebuttal of criticism from Gary Lineker, but he insisted he will not give England players a 'pat on the back' for bad performances. 

Despite maintaining their unbeaten start to the tournament, England came under fire for lacking an attacking impetus in their 1-1 draw with Denmark.

Lineker was one of several prominent media figures to criticise the showing, branding Thursday's performance 's***' on 'The Rest is Football', a podcast he hosts and owns.

Speaking ahead of England's final group game against Slovenia, Kane hit back and insisted former England players should think twice before commenting on the team. Rice also voiced displeasure in comments ahead of the clash. 

Ferdinand has defended the Three Lions stars and reckoned Lineker's unexpected use of a expletive to describe the display may have been the cause of the player's fury. 

Rio Ferdinand has said that he understands how England players would have felt hearing the criticism of Gary Lineker

Gary Lineker labelled England's performance 's***' after their 1-1 draw with Denmark

England skipper Harry Kane spoke publicly on the matter and aimed a sly dig at the former Three Lions striker

'I understand why Harry Kane and Declan Rice, who have been the ones [to speak publicly], are upset.' The former Manchester United and England defender said on his FIVE podcast. 'I would be upset, I would probably come out like this or I would ring the person. 

'I think that's the word that's really tipped them over the edge: s***. Because they probably don't expect that and it's put them on the back foot, thinking "he's played for our country, he's been in our shoes."

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'I get that. Maybe I wouldn't have used that word and said "we've been s***". But every fan in the country has said that word but because you're held to a higher esteem and you're an ex-player and we're in the positions that we are because of our careers, maybe that's something you look at and dance around that word a little bit.'

On Monday, speaking alongside Alan Shearer, Lineker stood by his criticism and insisted that the journalist who put his comments to the team would have had the same evaluation of their performance. 

'Made the headlines again, haven't I!' Lineker said. 'Journalists being what journalists are. 

'They can be a bit tricky on these things trying to wind up our footballers. We've been obviously critical of England's performance as has pretty much every journalist.

'But you know what happens Alan, it's happened to you and it's happened to me over the years. You sit there as a player and it's your turn to face the press and at some point a journalist says "so and so has been critical of you" and you know they've not heard it.'

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'We've talked about this on this podcast before about journalists not being brave enough to ask their own questions.

'I guarantee whoever asked that would have probably been critical himself. I think they do it A) to stir the pot and B) because they're too scared to ask the questions themselves.

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'I get it and it puts Harry on the spot, but I thought he answered it fine with one or two bits in there, but it's not easy answering a question like that.'

Lineker added that he wants nothing more than to see England perform at the highest level possible in Germany.

Gareth Southgate's side have the chance to silence the dissenting voices in their final group game against Slovenia on Tuesday. England can claim top spot with a win and avoid the hosts in the last-16. 

Ferdinand added: 'I've come in here not to defend them but I have ended up defending them because I'm looking at myself in their shoes. 

'There a fine line and there are certain words that will trigger you that make you think "I expect better from them and I'm going to tell them". 

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'But what I wouldn't be doing is expecting a pat on the back for bad performances.

'I'm not glossing over any bad performances, I want this team to do well. You can't expect me to sit up there on TV and talk some made gibberish when the whole nation knows exactly what's happened and the team hasn't played well.