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Gareth Southgate insisted that Harry Maguire will bounce back after the defender’s lousy start to the season worsened again when he received a red card during England’s 1-0 defeat to Denmark in the Nations League.
Maguire’s form has declined since his court case in Greece and the pressure on the Manchester United center-back increased after he was shown two yellow cards in 31 minutes against Denmark at Wembley, forcing Southgate to answer questions about growing indiscipline. of your team on and off the pitch. tone.
It was a miserable night for England, which ended with nine men for the first time in its history after Reece James received a red card for dissenting after the final whistle.
Denmark were second in the group thanks to a Christian Eriksen penalty, converted after a mistake by Jordan Pickford caused Kyle Walker to be penalized for a minor foul, and Southgate was criticized for leaving Jack Grealish on the bench. Inevitably, though, it was Maguire who came to the fore after two headlong tackles led to the 27-year-old’s first-half ejection.
“He’s taking a lot of sticks and he’s big enough to deal with that,” Southgate said. “He has our support and I know that his club will be the same. We fully believe in it. He’s been getting all sorts of things for a while, from some people who should know better.
“In these periods you learn a lot about yourself. You learn a lot about other people. Learn who is there for you. He will be a better player and a stronger man for it. Getting down to 10 men is costly for the team. But we support it. He showed on Sunday why we think so much of him with his performance against Belgium.
Southgate, who admitted that it will be difficult for England to reach the Nations League Finals by winning in Belgium next month, does not plan to take Maguire out of the line of fire. He will want to play football, ”said the England manager. “The best place for him is in the field.”
Maguire’s red card followed Walker’s in last month’s win over Iceland and Southgate admitted his team must be smart after a series of incidents on and off the field. “We have to learn from that because historically, 10 men in tournaments, you are out,” he said. “Of course there have been things off the field that have not been good.”
