I have a duty of care to my players, insists Southgate
CRUEL LUCK: SWISS LEAD NORTHERN IRELAND AFTER PLAY-OFF FIRST LEG
ENGLAND manager Gareth Southgate dismissed “nonsense” talk of a club versus country row after revealing Danny Drinkwater turned down the chance to link up with his squad.
The Three Lions’ World Cup preparations kick-off with backto-back matches against Germany and Brazil – glamour friendlies they approach without a spate of key players.
Raheem Sterling, Fabian Delph and Jordan Henderson have pulled out of the squad, following the withdrawals of Dele Alli, Harry Winks and Harry Kane.
Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino’s suggestion that the latter will be fit in time for the derby with Arsenal after the international break raised eyebrows, intensifying murmurings of a potential issue between clubs and country.
However, England boss Southgate could scarcely have been firmer in dismissing such talk.
“I knew Harry Kane was in trouble because he stayed down,” he said. “Harry Kane doesn’t stay down, so I knew already we had a potential problem.
“Both him and Harry Winks were scanned, both scans our medical department have reviewed – no way they were available for our two games.
“Spurs might risk them for the game with Arsenal, it’s a different matter.
“I’m hearing there’s talk of club v country – it’s a nonsense. The players are injured and cannot play.
“With some of the players it’s 100 per cent clear, there’s a scan. With a couple of the other lads that have been in, there’s ongoing injury issues with them.
“I have man-to-man discussions with them around, ‘where are you at with it?’ ‘how much risk do we want to take?’
“Having been a player, I am not a manager who just wants to wheel players out until they break, so I don’t take risks with players. It’s their livelihood, it’s their career.
“If we’re in a cup final or a critical game, maybe we have a really open conversation.
“But I think as a manager you have a duty of care to your players to make sure that things are done correctly.”
Uncapped Burnley midfielder Jack Cork was brought in on Tuesday following the latest batch of withdrawals rather than the likes of Jack Wilshere, Jonjo Shelvey or Drinkwater.
Chelsea midfielder Drinkwater has struggled for fitness since his summer move from Leicester and was sounded out by Southgate about joining up with the group.
“(Cork is) playing very well in a team that are playing well,” the England boss said in an interview with BBC Radio.
“He has played at every level for England previously.
“Danny Drinkwater I did speak to earlier in the week, but he feels he’s not fit enough to play.
“I think Jonjo is a different type of player – plays deeper, receives very deep, plays almost in a quarter-back position for his club.
“We were needing something a little bit different for these games, so I had a good chat with (Burnley manager) Sean Dyche as well about Jack and he’s delighted with what he’s doing and he’s a great character who has worked with a lot of the squad in the past. A really great moment for him.”
Cork bolsters a midfield that it is understood uncapped Ruben Loftus-Cheek – currently on loan at Crystal Palace from Chelsea – will be a part of against Germany from the start tonight.
Jack Butland looked likely to get the nod in goal, but on the eve of their friendly had to pull out of the squad after breaking his finger in training yesterday.
Butland’s unfortunate omission continues a trend for England and Southgate.
And for Butland, it carries unfortunate shades of a previous clash with Germany.
The 24-year-old fractured his ankle during a 2016 meeting with the Germans and missed a year of football as a result. He has returned to form and fitness and it was widely reported he would have started at Wembley.
The FA said Southgate would make no decisions over a replacement until after tonight’s game, leaving Joe Hart and Jordan Pickford as the contenders to face Germany.
NORTHERN IRELAND lost 1-0 to Switzerland night in the first leg of their World Cup play-off due to a controversially-awarded penalty.
Referee Ovidiu Hategan awarded a penalty in Belfast when he ruled Xherdan Shaqiri’s volley struck Corry Evans’s arm, which was tucked into his side as he turned his body at close range.
Ricardo Rodriguez converted the spot-kick in the 58th minute to give the visitors an away goal and the lead ahead of Sunday’s return leg in Basel.
Northern Ireland will be driven on there by a sense of injustice because of a decision that may well have been overturned had a video referee, which is being trialled in England’s friendly with Germany tonight, been in place.
For a team aiming to be the first in 32 years to represent Northern Ireland at a World Cup, and one manager Michael O’Neill in his programme notes had called more deserving of success than anyone else, it was a harsh blow.
O’Neill called the decision to award Switzerland a match-deciding penalty “bewildering”.
He was at a loss to explain the decision while also suggesting Switzerland defender Fabian Schar should have received a red card for a reckless early challenge on Leeds United’s Stuart Dallas.
“It’s staggering really that the referee can give that penalty decision in that situation,” O’Neill said.
“He was six yards from the incident, he has no one in his line of sight.
“Corry has just gone to block it, his body is turned and the ball actually hits him more on the shoulder than the arm so it is incredible.
“I thought he had blown for a foul or for offside, so to give a penalty for that, when nobody appealed, it is bewildering really.
“In such a defining moment in the match we feel very hard done by.
“The tackle by Schar was a borderline red card; the referee certainly didn’t do us any favours (last night).”
Despite the controversial manner of their goal, Switzerland were worthy of their win at Windsor Park and had several chances to have won the game, while the hosts failed to register a shot on target.
O’Neill added: “We have to forget about it, I thought the players’ reaction was very good.
“It’s very difficult when you go behind in a game of this magnitude to an incident like that, but I thought they reacted very well.
“We are still in the tie, we are only 1-0 down and maybe we will get the good fortune of having a referee who will give us a decision like that in the second leg. I won’t have to pick them up.”