Axed Sterling rues losing cool
City winger dropped for Euro qualifier against Montenegro after altercation with Reds’ Gomez
Raheem Sterling said he allowed his “emotions” to get the better of him leading to a brief altercation with Liverpool’s Joe Gomez that resulted in Manchester City player being dropped for Thursday’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro. Sterling admitted on Instagram on Tuesday he and Gomez “had words” when they met up at the England camp the day after Liverpool’s 3-1 win over defending champions Manchester City which left the latter nine points adrift of Jurgen Klopp’s side.
“Both Joe and I have had words and figured things out and moved on,” Sterling said.
“We are in a sport where emotions run high and I am man enough to admit when emotions got the better of me.
“This is why we play this sport because of our love for it—me and Joe Gomez are good, we both understand it was a five to 10-second thing... it’s done, we move forward and not make this bigger than it is. Let’s get focus on our game on Thursday,” Sterling added. The Daily Mail reported that Gomez and Sterling had to be separated by teammates on Monday after a “physical confrontation.” The pair had also clashed on the field towards the end of Sunday’s match.
England manager Gareth Southgate moved quickly to deal with the issue—arguably one of his achievements during his time in the post has been to erase the rivalries between members from different clubs which plagued previous England squads.
The likes of former star defender Rio Ferdinand have spoken about how when they used to join the England camp he and Manchester United players would stick together and find it hard to mix with Chelsea or Liverpool stars.
In a statement prior to Sterling’s Instagram post issued by the Football Association, Southgate alluded to that.
“We have taken the decision to not consider Raheem for the match against Montenegro on
Thursday. One of the great challenges and strengths for us is that we’ve been able to separate club rivalries from the national team. Unfortunately the emotions of yesterday’s game were still raw.
“My feeling is that the right thing for the team is the action we have taken. Now that the decision has been made with the agreement of the entire squad, it’s important that we support the players and focus on Thursday.”
“VAR MUST IMPROVE”
LAUSANNE: The day after Liverpool beat Man City where VAR decisions were hotly disputed, the Premier League leader’s coach Jurgen Klopp and other top football figures have suggested improvement is needed to the fledgling system.
Klopp, his City opposite number Pep Guardiola, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane, and Thomas Tuchel of PSG attended the UEFA coaches forum in Nyon on Monday, where the Video Assistant Referee system was a hot topic. “It is clear it’s a process where they have to keep on improving,” Klopp said. It can be improved, a lot of things have to be done by human beings and we are not 100 per cent (either).
“There is space for some mistakes, nobody asks for perfection, just to have the right decision, that’s all.” His comments were made a day after the marquee game of the Premier League season so far saw a controversial VAR call after six minutes when City could easily have had a penalty when the ball ricocheted around the Liverpool area and hit the Reds’ defender Trent Alexander-Arnold on the arm.
Not only did VAR fail to overturn the referee’s decision not to award City a penalty, but they were doubly punished 22 seconds later when Liverpool midfielder Fabinho fired home a brilliant strike to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.
UEFA assistant general secretary Giorgio Marchetti said uniformity was needed but called for time for the new system to bed in. “Let’s not forget VAR is very young and it’s a revolution in the game. “What we all need is uniformity,” Marchetti said.