Gareth Southgate explains why a player earning £200,000 per week did not play for England against the USA and what he said.

Gareth Southgate was questioned after leaving Manchester City’s Phil Foden on the bench during England’s 0-0 draw with the United States.

England manager Gareth Southgate stated that he believes the qualities of Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish are better suited to changing England’s fortunes against the United States than those of Phil Foden.

Following a strong start against Iran earlier in the week, England’s World Cup hopes were knocked down a notch or two with a 0-0 draw against the United States on Friday night. England lacked a creative spark in attack and was put under significant pressure by

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag would have been mightily impressed with his club captain, as Harry Maguire was dominant in the air. The out-of-favor center-back was arguably England’s best player on the night, as he played a vital role in preventing what could have been a potentially very embarrassing result.

As the game went on, the absence of Foden became more and more alarming, with many calling for the introduction of the City star to help unlock a stubborn USA defense. After the full-time whistle, Southgate explained what his side was missing, as he revealed why both Grealish and Rashford were favored over Pep Guardiola’s man.

He told ITV: “We didn’t have that same zip [as against Iran]. That’s going to happen, it’s tournament football, we’re not just going to roll through and sweep through everyone where you have nights like that where you need to show different qualities to get a result

“We thought it was the right thing to do, to keep the team from the start, and then the wide players we went with Jack [Grealish] and Marcus [Rashford] ahead of Phil [Foden] on the changes. We thought, Jack would keep the ball well for us and get us up the pitch and Marcus’ speed, we thought would also be a threat coming into that last part of the game.”

Southgate later claimed in a press conference that Foden wasn’t brought on in a more central role because he is unfamiliar with playing centrally for City.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*