Southgate’s happy to select Sterling, despite his yellow card for diving
Gareth Southgate last night revealed that the negative backlash surrounding Raheem Sterling’s new tattoo of a gun kept him in the England team.
Southgate was all set to drop Sterling for the 2-1 friendly victory over Nigeria after the Manchester City player reported for squad duty one day late.
But the England manager changed his mind after seeing his player spend the last week on the end of negative headlines and facing the wrath of social media.
Southgate felt it was more important to send a positive message to the other 22 players in the squad about supporting each other rather than hang one out to dry.
“It was not about getting a response from Raheem,” he said. “I knew the form he is in and the way he has trained, I knew he would play well.
“I said before the game I had a decision to make about whether to play him after turning up late.
“But it wasn’t a decision once Raheem started to come under fire from every other direction.
“The most important thing for me over the next six weeks is to protect the players.
“They have to respect each other and
they have to understand how it is important that they support each other.
“In terms of his performance I got the level I expected.
“With a forward player, there are always moments when he will not always succeed when taking on a player. “Raheem turned up late 10 days ago – how long do we go on with something? “As a manager, you always have to balance your message to the rest of the group and what is most important at that time.
“The situation was one we didn’t want to happen. We don’t want to see that happen again.
“But that was the best way to deal with it in my opinion.”
And Sterling was honest enough to admit that he made a big mistake in his time-keeping.
“If I got left out, I wouldn’t have had any complaints,” he said.
“I had to meet up at 11 o’clock, the flight got delayed and I was a bit late in the morning.
“So I completely understand where the manager was coming from.”
Sterling was a central figure on the pitch, too, in the No.10 role.
The forward caused Nigeria problems with his pace and direct running but he couldn’t end his international goal drought which stretches back to October 2015.
He also blotted his copybook in the second half when he was booked for diving by Italian referee Marco Guida as he went down, hoping to win a penalty off Nigeria goalkeeper Francis Uzoho. With the World Cup less than a fortnight away, it was bad timing, as Sterling may have picked up a reputation which could prove costly for him, and England, in Russia.
The game was won in the first half as England produced their most vibrant 45 minutes under Southgate.
Gary Cahill headed the opener after seven minutes from Kieran Trippier’s cross, before a host of chances were missed.
None of those had fallen to Harry Kane, though. When the striker took aim after 39 minutes, he marked his first game as captain with the second goal.
Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi pulled one back for Nigeria at the start of a second half in which the Super Eagles were much improved.
But it was not enough to stop England from getting a deserved win, who will now focus on their final warm-up game against Costa Rica in Leeds on Thursday night.