Samir Nasri departed the Donbass Arena with an ice pack bandaged to his right knee, a sneer directed at the French media and a man‑of‑the‑match award to savour with the Manchester City midfielder confident that Les Bleus can progress smoothly out of Group D.

It was his smartly taken equaliser, fizzed beyond his club-mate Joe Hart nine minutes after the French had slipped behind, that secured this point with Nasri duly sprinting along the touchline with his finger to his lips in celebration. The initial reaction was that the 24-year-old was aiming the gesture at the England bench as he ran past, perhaps at the Manchester United or Arsenal contingent present. Yet, as he departed the post-match presentation ceremony, he suggested it was actually delivered to the press.

"That was at you," he muttered to his audience as he descended the stage, his mood apparently darkened by what he perceives as unfair criticism back home at recent performances and even his growing influence in the France team. The ice pack was at least explained away as a legacy of a late challenge with Danny Welbeck.

"It's nothing serious," he said. "A win would have made things better still, but I was happy with the goal. Joe Hart knows me from City, and knows I usually open my body up, so this time I closed it [and aimed at the near-post].

"I'm confident in our ability to go through after this point. Our goal is to reach the quarter-finals, and we didn't lose this game. We can be happy. We've made a lot of progress since all the mistakes at the 2010 World Cup: we are more mature now and we want to do something with this generation of players."

Laurent Blanc, was supportive of his midfielder's reaction after scoring his goal. "That's between him and his detractors, no one else," the France coach said. "It's something personal. He was happy to score and played a good game, and has become one of our key players. You sometimes have to be a bit more patient with creative players like him but, if they buy into your philosophy, they can give you the right reaction out on the pitch. He did that for us against England."

Blanc's team are now unbeaten in 22 matches, stretching back to their opening Euro 2012 qualifier in the autumn of 2010, with the manager's disappointment at a sloppy start tempered by his players' immediate response to falling behind. "We were punished for taking time to get into the game, but falling behind actually helped wake us up," said the former Bordeaux manager, who was taking charge of his first game at a major finals. "We deserved our equaliser and continued to create chances after that.

"France attacked a lot more than England, we played our game, and while we're not entirely thrilled with a draw, we're not disappointed either. That opening 20 minutes was perhaps down to inexperience – we were too timid – and we could easily have gone on and lost the match. So we have to be pleased with the way we reacted – that is something to work on. It just took us a while to get into it, and we didn't press them as we should have: we weren't as aggressive or quick as we should have been. Against Ukraine, we'll have to avoid a repeat and be better from the off.

"Alou Diarra was fantastic and strong after making the mistake for (Joleon Lescott's) goal, and our centre-halves grew into the game. They gave the best response possible to the criticism they've been getting back in France. We were good enough not to lose this game, but not good enough to win it. But I would say that the most important thing was that we did not come away with nothing. This is a start."