Jack Butland has called for Stuart Pearce to stay on as England Under-21s manager, despite a disappointing European Championships campaign.
England's youngsters were dumped out of the tournament at the group stages after suffering defeat in all three of their fixtures.
But Butland believes the players should shoulder the blame for their poor performances in Israel.
"It says it all how we got here, the way we played, the structure and organisation we had," he said. "There is no-one else to blame (but the players). It is the same group of players - it us that have not performed.
"For a legend of the game like Stuart Pearce, it is difficult to apologise, but there is no-one else to blame but the players. We were on the pitch, I hope he stays in the job.
"He works extremely hard and does everything necessary to make sure we are successful and gives us all the right tools. I really do hope he stays."
The Stoke shot-stopper also admitted that he is not sure why he and his team-mates failed to progress following an impressive qualifying campaign.
"We are embarrassed, we haven't done ourselves justice," he added. "We are a lot better than this but we can't keep saying this. We haven't proved it and we can only wonder why.
"We wanted this. It is difficult to understand what went wrong. We just seemed flat and not ourselves, which is difficult to understand. I don't know."
Pearce's contract with the FA expires at the end of the month, but the 51-year-old has expressed a desire to continue in the role.
