All players go through rough patches at times but it is becoming clear Harry Maguire is simply not good enough to be playing at the highest level.
A few good games for England since 2018 can no longer overshadow the woeful form of the centre-back.
England dominated Scotland in the first half of Tuesday’s game and went 2-0 up before the break.
This prompted Southgate to take off Marc Guehi for Harry Maguire in the interval. Guehi could be a huge player for England in the future and could do with the extra minutes under his belt, whilst Levi Colwill deserves a chance after his solid start with Chelsea.
But as ever, Southgate stuck with Maguire who then scored an own goal vs Scotland.
Maguire was then targeted by the home support at Hampden Park, sparking Southgate into a delusional defence of the player:
“It is a consequence of ridiculous treatment of him for a long period of time, frankly, and I think our fans recognised, ‘ok there might be a bit of heat from our own supporters but we are not going to have it from others getting into him.’ But it is a joke.
“I have never known a player to be treated the way he is, not from the Scottish fans, by our own commentators, pundits, whatever it is, they have created something that is beyond anything I have ever seen.
“He has been an absolute stalwart for us in the second most successful English team for decades, he has been an absolutely key part of that. I have talked about the importance of our senior players, he has been crucial amongst that and every time he goes on the field the resilience he shows, the balls he shows is absolutely incredible, so he is a top player and we are all with him.
“Our fans were brilliant with him tonight. I feel fairly strongly about it yes.
“He is good, he is great, we have had a good win and he was a big part of that. He has fronted up as he always does which is enormous credit to his character.”
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