Mourinho: Sterling had poor World Cup, Latest Football News - The New Paper
Football

Mourinho: Sterling had poor World Cup

Raheem Sterling has been England's most polarising figure at the World Cup and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has weighed in on his performances, saying he has not had a good tournament.

The Manchester City man has offered the Three Lions speed and skill but has been profligate in front of goal, despite scoring 24 goals for his club this season.

Sterling left Russia without a goal to his name after England's 2-0 third-place play-off loss to Belgium at Saint Petersburg Stadium on Saturday and was replaced in the second half by Marcus Rashford.

"I was a little bit surprised that Sterling was in the team," said Mourinho, who was speaking as a pundit for Russian broadcaster RT.

"He didn't have a good enough World Cup to be chosen for a match ahead of (Jamie) Vardy, (Danny) Welbeck, Rashford - people with probably better condition from a physical and psychological point of view."

Former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane, meanwhile, took aim at defenders Danny Rose and Phil Jones, accusing them of not knowing how to defend.

He said on British broadcaster ITV: "If you're making the same mistakes every week, it's going to continue. They are not going to change, Rose and Jones.

"Because they are just not good at defending, they are not good defenders… They are working with some great coaches.

"If their coaches aren't going to change them, they are going to keep doing it and they are going to cost you big style.

"When you look at Rose's defending as well on top of the centre-halves, he's never going to learn about the game if he doesn't know that at 28 years of age. He's in trouble."

England boss Gareth Southgate, however, was more positive about his side despite saying he has "no illusions" as to their standing in international football.

He said: "Belgium are a better side than us... It was a game too far for us.

"We are very proud of what we've done, but we're under no illusions as a team as to where we stand.

"We finished in the final four but we're not a top-four team yet, we've never hidden behind that. Against the very best teams, we've come up short...

"I felt it was important to tell the team how proud I was of what they'd done and recognise how far they'd got."

Captain Harry Kane added: "We're not the finished article, we're still improving and will only get better. We don't want to wait another 20 years to get into the semi-finals and the big matches."

Football