Raheem Sterling backs England boss Gareth Southgate saying he’s led the team ‘incredibly well’
- Seb Sternik
- 15 June 2022
While fans and the media continue to cast their judgment on England manager Gareth Southgate following the 4-0 collapse to Hungary, one man who has leapt to his defence is Raheem Sterling.
The Manchester City forward and England international believes that it is unfair to judge the manager on the recent Nations League run which has left the Three Lions winless from four games.
Tuesday's 4-0 defeat to Hungary was the culmination of a disappointing international break during which England failed to score a single goal from open play.
Just 11 months ago, Southgate took England to the European Championship final, only to fall in the final on penalties against Italy.
Back in 2018, the 51-year-old also led the Three Lions to a World Cup semi-final in Russia, with his team coming up short against eventual runners-up Croatia.
Despite his recent successes, Southgate is facing the toughest test of his reign as England boss.
Nevertheless, Sterling has come out in defence of his manager, telling BBC Radio 5 Live: "I keep saying after these last couple of games, you can't be judged on that.
A very unwanted record 🔢#C4Football | #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/VCrILgqE2c
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) June 15, 2022
"If you look at the steps that he's made over the last couple of tournaments, semi-final and a final, I think a Nations League couple of bad results is not something that we can judge him on.
"He's led us incredibly well. He's showed us the way, he's helped us mature from young men to senior pros, a lot of us in the dressing room.
"He's doing that now with a lot of the young lads and he's trying to make sure that everyone's got enough experience for when we do hit the big time that we're all ready."
The Manchester City man has urged his teammates to recover from their humiliation in Wolverhampton and bounce back stronger in September.
He said: "As I keep saying, it's going to be alarm bells ringing because of the opposition we played today.
"We should take the responsibility because we're players that are playing in the biggest competition and this is a game today that we should win without a doubt.
"This is down to the players to take this one on the chin, assess ourselves and come back and make sure we do the business in September and I've got the utmost confidence in the boys to do that."
England will take on Germany and Italy in two more Nations League fixtures in September. Those will be the final tests before the World Cup in November.
