The 25-year-old centre-half said, even after Thursday’s 3-2 win over Saudi Arabia in Adelaide, it feels like everything the Socceroos do gets criticised these days.

Sainsbury called for support, ahead of Tuesday’s friendly against Brazil in Melbourne, although he claimed the criticism helped bring the squad together.

“It seems like everything we do these days is getting hammered, especially in the media,” Sainsbury said.

“It’s nice for us a group to stay together and get the three points. We won’t worry about what other people say on the outside.

“It’d be nice for the Australian public to be on our side for once. We’re working hard and trying to achieve the goals and objectives we’ve set out for each other, to win and qualify for the World Cup and do it our way and our style.

“At the end of the day, we’re never going to progress as a country if we keep going to just make it through. We’ve got to change that mentality. That starts with our generation now.”

Trent Sainsbury

Sainsbury, who conceded the Socceroos made life difficult in Thursday’s win, acknowledged the criticism was hard to ignore.

“We don’t talk about the criticism. We just focus on ourselves,” Sainsbury said.

“But it’s hard to ignore when it comes up every single day. The same nit-picky stuff makes the headlines, instead of the three points.

“We’ve got the support of the fans. It’d be nice to have the support of the media at the same time.”

The former Central Coast man, who played only once on loan at Inter Milan in the second-half of the season, said physically he felt fine against Saudi Arabia, but mentally slightly “sluggish” with his positioning.

He added that he felt comfortable in the oft-criticised back three of coach Ange Postecoglou’s 3-4-3 formation.

“I’ve played back three many times before,” Sainsbury said.

“I can’t speak for the other boys but it’s always nice to have that formation if you need to switch to it. We can go to a 4-3-3 or a 3-4-3 now so it’s up to us to prepare well.

“Not every game is going to go smoothly 100 per cent for 90 minutes but it’s football.”