Declan Rice has branded criticism of him by Sportsmail columnist Graeme Souness 'harsh' ahead of Thursday night's clash between Rice's England and Italy.
Former Liverpool midfielder Souness effectively called the West Ham captain a limited player.
And Rice — who has come off social media recently — responded here in Naples on Wednesday night: 'It's harsh because Souness doesn't watch West Ham every week.
'There's loads of West Ham fans, 60,000 go every week, they see what I do.
'But Souness was a player and when someone like him speaks, you have to sometimes listen and take on board where you can improve, if that's true.