Everton defender Phil Jagielka has slammed England's critics and has claimed that the amount of the pressure placed on the national team has halted the country's success.

Jagielka was called up to the England squad for Euro 2012, after Manchester City midfielder Gareth Barry was ruled out of the tournament by injury.

England are outsiders for this summer's competition and Jagielka says that their best chance of winning the championships is if the players block out all the hype around them and focus on their own game.

"I'm sure if we win a game, we will be favourites and, if we lose, we will be regarded as a waste of space," Jagielka told talkSPORT.

"It would be better for the squad if there was a little bit less expectation on us. Hopefully we can go under the radar until the latter stages of the tournament and get further than we have done before.

"If we are being realistic, we haven't won anything for a number of years now and maybe that is because we don't deserve to. Hopefully this time around we can perform a little bit better and see where it takes us."

England find themselves in Group D alongside France, Sweden and co-hosts Ukraine.