Gareth Southgate tells England fans who booed Harry Maguire: ‘Either we’re all together or we’re not’ Yorkshire News

The Sheffield-born defender has been in poor form for his club this season, but that was no excuse for a player who has always served his country well to be booed when his name was read before kick-off and when he made his first touches. in England’s comfortable 3-0 victory over the Ivory Coast.

Manager Southgate was angry at a reaction he told viewers he saw as “a joke” and warned it could affect more than just the Manchester United captain.

“I don’t understand how it benefits anyone. Either we are all together or we are not,” she said.

“I imagine if you ask some why they did it, they may not even be able to answer because it becomes a mob mentality.

“At one end of the field, you have a section of hardcore fans playing their song and trying to get their name sung, so I’m very aware that it’s not all of them.

“Don’t think for a minute that the other players aren’t looking at him thinking it could be me one day. That’s been one of the problems of playing for England, the players have thought, ‘Do I want to go because when he becomes a little difficult, the crowd is going to turn against me.’

“That’s happened with John Barnes here, and Ashley Cole a couple of times, with Raheem (Sterling) now Harry. They’re all standout players, so how that’s going to benefit anybody, I really don’t get.”

“We are united as a team, we need a Harry Maguire playing well if we are going to have a chance to do well this winter. We are not going to win a World Cup with a bunch of players who have three or four caps, that has not happened in the history of the game, so we need our experienced players to play well.

“He’s top quality. In my opinion, he’s also the best centre-back at his club.”

“I’m not sure where this all started or where it’s feeding off of, but it’s ridiculous. It’s almost like every time he steps on a field, every action is analyzed to death.”

“I can’t remember a player who has that attention on him at all times.”

Of Maguire’s performance in a game in which England were playing 10 men from the 40th minute when Tottenham Hotspur right-back Serge Aurier received a second yellow card, Southgate said: “He had important moments coming out with the ball for the goals, that’s what he does. He and John (Stones) have given us the period to play from behind that

we haven’t had for quite some time. That changes the dynamic of the game.

“Obviously defensively it wasn’t tested too much tonight because the red card changed the flow of the game, which was a shame for us from a learning point of view and the fans as a show.”

“But he did what he had to do and given the reception I thought he did extremely well.”

Jude Bellingham put in an impressive performance as an attacking midfielder, hitting a post early on, as did the night’s captain Raheem Sterling, who scored the second goal. Ollie Watkins scored his first start with a goal and Tyrone Mings scored a header in stoppage time.

But the game was never a contest once Aurier was ejected after yanking on Jack Grealish’s shorts, and then tried and failed to take down Watkins.

“When you play against 11 it’s quite difficult, but 10 against 11 was impossible,” said their coach, Patrice Beaumelle.

“The plan was to play a block and try to play (on the) counterattack, but when you have one player down, the game was made for us. It was quite difficult to put up a challenge.”

“I think it was a challenge in midfield and Serge was obstructed. I didn’t see it clearly but I thought it was a foul on us but the referee didn’t give us a free kick.”

“At the end of the day it’s football.

“I have to watch it again, but I think it killed the show. For the fans, it wasn’t a game anymore.”

Beaumelle, without the injured Wilfried Zaha, who had a hamstring injury, was impressed by England.

“I read in the paper that the manager is always changing the system, but I think it’s good for England to have so many options to play,” he said. “They have so many (good) players.

“It is a very strong team, they are not fourth in the FIFA ranking by chance.”