Southgate reacts to fan trouble after arrests hit three figures

Joe Williams

England manager Gareth Southgate was disappointed to hear about fan trouble after his players won with “pride and some style” in Holland.

Jesse Lingard’s first international goal secured the Three Lions a fully-deserved 1-0 win in Friday’s World Cup warm-up friendly, but on-field success came with the cloud of off-field issues in Amsterdam.

The local police force posted a statement on their official Twitter account announcing the number taken into custody on Friday had risen to 90, bringing the total of England supporters arrested over the past two days to over 100.

Almost 60 were detained after they were penned in by riot police in the red light district of the city, while a number of those in the ground booed the Dutch national anthem before kick-off.

Southgate had urged supporters to behave on the eve of Friday’s friendly, but those words were clearly ignored by some of the 5,253 fans in the away section.

“I heard some of the booing of the anthem which obviously isn’t acceptable,” the England manger said.

“The rest, that’s the first I’ve heard just outside before (coming into the press conference).

“Without knowing the details… obviously it’s not something I want to hear because most of all for us, I think our players have represented their country really well tonight with pride and some style.

“So, anything else that takes away from that performance for them would be a great shame.”

 

News England

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