Gareth Southgate has defended his decision to axe Raheem Sterling for England’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro on Thursday.
The Manchester City forward was involved in an extraordinary bust-up with Liverpool defender Joe Gomez at St George’s Park on Monday.
The incident came after the pair clashed during Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over their title rivals on Sunday and tensions boiled over when they met up for international duty less than 24 hours later.
Southgate offered an opening statement to the assembled media in which he reiterated Sterling’s admission that he had become heated. In doing so Southgate appeared to absolve Gomez.
“Raheem in his post last night explained for a very brief moment his emotions ran over.
“It would be correct to say that’s not the same for Joe,” he said.
“We are dealing with a very young squad in a sport where emotions often run high.
“These things happen in football. My priority is always the care and well being of all my players. All my players.
“Then you have a decision to make as to whether there needs to be something further, which is my reasoning for not selecting Raheem for the game on Thursday.
“I’m the manager and I’ve made a decision that I felt was appropriate.”
talkSPORT.com has delved through some of the other key talking points that arose from Southgate’s press conference on Tuesday afternoon below…
What really happened yesterday…
“I’m not prepared to go into detail. There is enough conjecture and opinion and talk out there – we don’t need to add to that.
“I’ve said what I think needs to be said but we have to keep as much as we can between ourselves.”
Was Jordan Henderson the peacemaker following the incident?
“I consult very closer with all the players – in particular my senior ones.
“They have a very good understanding of how we have worked over the last few years.
“We are a united group. Now we have to turn our focus onto the football, which we have done.
“We have a hugely important match this Thursday night. That is why I am speaking now on this. And we can draw a line under this.
On information being leaked to the press…
“In my view, the group are moving forward. There seems to be all sorts of information being passed form all different areas.
“Team getting out, information getting out, there seems to be so much information in the background.
“Every player has had an opportunity to speak to me if they want to, and my view is that the group is ready to move forwards.”
Steve Harmison says Gareth Southgate has treated Raheem Sterling like a child
On putting the incident behind them…
“In the end I’m the manager and I’ve made a decision that I think was appropriate for how we want to move forward.
“I consult very closely with all of the players and in particular my senior players and they have a very good understanding of the way we’ve worked over the last couple of years, that has brought us a lot of togetherness, which is still there.
“Now we have to turn our attention to the football. We’ve got a hugely important qualifier to qualify for a European Championships.
“I love all of my players, we’re like a family and all families have disagreements. The most important thing is you communicate through those disagreements.
“I don’t expect, as a manager, to never have to deal with things that are difficult or unexpected. That’s part and parcel of the job.”
