Sanchez told BBC: “It’s been the players’ resilience, character and determination that has driven us to seven points out of the last nine.
“The team is what we are here for and the players have done the fans proud.
“Qualification is a long way from here but after a poor start we’ve recovered very well.”
He added: “The fans have been fanstastic to me but I tell them to concentrate on the team.
“They are the people who need it and they are the people who deserve it.
“After the Iceland game we were considered by some people to be a poor side.
“We were never a poor side but in the three games since you’ve seen great character from a group of 20 individuals.”
