Southgate has finally turned on Maguire with brutal ‘warning’ to Manchester United captain

Editor F365
Gareth Southgate talks to Harry Maguire

Gareth Southgate has gone postal and laid down the law to both Harry Maguire and Trent Alexander-Arnold. This is not for the faint-hearted.

 

One warn every minute
After the ludicrous nature of Trent Alexander-Arnold coverage on Tuesday, there are actual words from Gareth Southgate on the matter. How quaint. It’ll never catch on.

Asked for an explanation as to why Alexander-Arnold was selected in a 28-man squad yet didn’t play a minute against Italy or Germany, the England manager somehow avoided mentioning the right-back’s fandom of Harry Potter.

“I didn’t want any player to sit in the stand for two matches, so I think the way we manage a group of people has been a big strength for us in the tournaments and we need to do that,” he said.

“(Against Italy) we didn’t need the left-back cover, against Germany we did because of the way we went with the team, so we needed Ben Chilwell on the bench and we had Kieran (Trippier) who, at the moment, I feel his all-round game is ahead,” Southgate added with regard to Alexander-Arnold.

And there you go. Like it or not, agree or disagree, Southgate’s reasoning is out in the open. He thinks Trippier offers more “all-round” to England than Alexander-Arnold.

Does this appease those who slammed his ‘treatment’ of Alexander-Arnold? Does it balls.

‘Southgate warns Alexander-Arnold that Trippier’s ‘all-round game is ahead of him’ as England star fears World Cup axe’

Good lord, the bar for a ‘warning’ is bloody low nowadays.

 

Warn again
As if to prove that point, here is another headline on The Sun website:

‘Southgate warns crocked Maguire he MUST perform for Utd or lose Qatar spot’

And this one really is even worse. Southgate has completely lost control here and something ought to be done about it.

“I know everybody says Harry is important to me but he’s important to us. It’s us – it’s not me. Why do we pick him? Because he’s one of the players who gives us the best chance of winning.

“So really, we should all be wanting a Harry Maguire that’s playing regularly and playing with confidence. That applies to, of course, quite a few players but he’s the one that everything lands on, which must be a tough space for him really.

“But he’s showing tremendous character. I think he has got the character to get over this because he’s a boy that has been from Sheffield United to Hull City. He’s not one where everything has been smooth. Sometimes you get lads who, in the early part of their career, haven’t had to handle adversity and when it hits them, it’s harder to cope with.

“He’s like most of us really, in that he’s had lots of hurdles – and that shapes your character.”

You’ve been ‘warned’, Harry. Apparently.

 

Heart-to-heartbreaker
Southgate also made the mistake of saying he’d “had long conversations with all of them, been very clear with them about where they stand, what they need to improve upon, what they’re doing well so they’re very clear on where they sit”.

Put that through the Daily Mirror‘s hyperbolic translation machine and you get this:

‘Southgate revealed he held heart-to-heart talks with the Liverpool defender after he did not even make the bench for the Nations League clash with Germany.’

Did he also hold ‘heart-to-heart talks with’ Fikayo Tomori, James Ward-Prowse and Aaron Ramsdale? Or do the standard discussions he had with every England player only qualify as ‘heart-to-heart’ when it’s someone the media has an increasing obsession with?

 

Good cop, bad Klopp
John Cross of the Daily Mirror adds this:

‘England boss Southgate justified his decision by claiming that he needed cover on the bench, could only pick 23 players and Trippier was a better option than Alexander-Arnold.

‘That has gone down badly with Liverpool fans and may not please Jurgen Klopp who has insisted he is among the best in the world and Alexander-Arnold is also a creative force.’

Jurgen Klopp must be royally pissed off that the England manager prefers Kieran Trippier to one of his club’s players. How furious he will be if Alexander-Arnold is left out of the World Cup squad and forced to have a break in the middle of a difficult and tiring season.

 

I came in like a pecking ball
‘England boss Gareth Southgate has delivered another blow to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s World Cup hopes after indicating Kieran Trippier is ahead of him in the pecking order’ – MailOnline.

‘Southgate reveals Trippier is ‘ahead’ of Alexander-Arnold in England pecking order for World Cup’ – GOAL.

‘Gareth Southgate: Kieran Trippier ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold in England pecking order’ – Daily Telegraph.

Trippier has started 14 England games since the start of 2020, including a European Championship final.

Alexander-Arnold has started 14 England games in his entire career, and only once consecutively.

Did anyone really doubt that Trippier was ‘ahead of’ Alexander-Arnold in the England pecking order until Southgate ‘indicated’/’revealed’ as such?

 

Why you gotta be so Jude?
‘Liverpool must make most of international breaks to pull off Jude Bellingham transfer’ – Daily Mirror website.

It is indeed exactly what you might think: 373 words of filler to get to a final three paragraphs in which Liverpool are told to ‘urge their England players to have a quiet word with the emerging talent’ and that ‘if selected, Henderson and Alexander-Arnold must sell the Merseyside dream to the teenager’.

Bellingham has basically signed for Liverpool. As long as no other club comes up with this genius ploy.

 

The sincerest form of flattery
‘ENGLAND’S WORLD CUP SQUAD LADDER: Shaw rises and Maguire STILL makes the squad, but Trent is left sweating… who’s on the plane to Qatar with NO games left to impress Southgate?’ – MailOnline with a feature idea that will never catch on.