England stars Jude Bellingham and Jack Grealish both took a pop at former boss Gareth Southgate as Lee Carsley stepped down from his interim manager role.
Carsley completed his six-game spell in charge of the Three Lions with a 5-0 demolition of Republic of Ireland at Wembley on Sunday night.
Thomas Tuchel will now take over as permanent manager after Carsley managed five wins and one loss in his six outings, with the team scoring 16 goals under his stewardship.
The 50-year-old will now return to his role as England Under-21 boss and he will do so after some glowing reviews from senior players.
Real Madrid superstar Bellingham posted on Instagram after the Ireland rout: ‘Huge thanks to Lee and his staff for their work in these last few camps.
‘Got my smile back in an England shirt, very grateful!’
That followed a Player of the Match performance from Bellingham, who won the penalty which saw Harry Kane open the scoring, before providing a stunning assist for Taylor Harwood-Bellis to head home.
Grealish wasn’t even involved in the last two wins over Greece and Ireland as he withdrew from the squad due to injury.
However, the Manchester City winger did start in the earlier wins over Ireland, and Finland twice, clearly enjoying himself in those contests.
‘What a guy and manager!’ Grealish posted on Instagram. ‘Absolute legend and thank you for bringing back the enjoyment in England shirt.’
The comments on Carsley bringing back the enjoyment of playing for England appear to be digs at Southgate after his very stodgy last tournament in charge.
England did reach the final of Euro 2024 and only narrowly lost to Spain in the final, but the performances throughout the tournament were underwhelming and the Three Lions never really hit their stride going forward, despite their brilliant options in attack.
Southgate had so many offensive options available to him that Grealish did not even make the squad, a decision which may well also have motivated his latest comment.
Speaking about his omission from the squad last month, Grealish told the BBC: ‘I will be honest with you – I didn’t really agree with it.
‘You need a bit of a balance in every position on the pitch and I class myself [as] quite an experienced player now.
‘I have won a lot of stuff now so, you asked me should I have gone, yes, I still think I should have, but obviously it wasn’t meant to be.’
He also said over the summer: ‘I’ll be honest, football-wise it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with in terms of my own career.
‘I was absolutely heartbroken. I felt I should have been in the [England] squad. I’m sure every person that didn’t get picked would have thought the same.
‘I feel like I offer something different to players in the England squad. But it is what it is.’
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