for the red card.
Gareth Southgate… the man who thought “I know, I’ll play Kyle Walker” must take his fair share of the responsibility for Kyle Walker being a gormless dolt of a player.
It was funny hearing Roy Keane say that Walker has to mature. He’s the 30 bloody years old. Over a top flight career that’s been going for a decade he’s never shown the slightest hint of ever maturing. Hell, you couldn’t get of an indication that he never will tan during lockdown when he was partying with a couple of hookers.
And even after that Southgate picked him.
Is it only because he was with City during their failed Champions League campaign after the league season had finished, so was playing up until just a couple of weeks ago?
I suppose the same people that think Walker can mature were also surprised by the two challenges that got Walker his two yellow cards. So quick to blame others on the field, for rogue passes, they never tell the truth that the first challenge where he pulled back the Iceland player is the standard Walker challenge. All hands, no feet. The second challenge showed why his feet are the last thing he uses to “tackle” someone.
But then should we be surprised by Southgate. Doesn’t pick a left back. Needs creativity so takes off a creative player, while leaving on a holding midfielder against a team that had 22% of the ball, Rice didn’t make a single tackle, he didn’t even attempt one. Has Sterling floating around the pitch, meaning he’s coming inside, when Iceland have packed the middle, so width is required and with no left footed left-back there’s no width on the left.
It might have been different if Kane’s early goal had stood, which with VAR… or a competent ref and lino… it would have. But then chances are Southgate’s England would have dropped off, thought they had it won and conceded as they have a habit of doing.
Southgate was close to doing a Roy Hodgson, against an Iceland team that was nowhere near the level to the one that beat Hodgson’s side, four years ago, missing a number of their star players.
But again Southgate gets lucky. A penalty that many thought wasn’t. Sterling’s dribbling back-pass of a spot kick getting what would be the winner a minute into added time. While the hosts skied their spot kick given seconds later.
At least we won’t have to see Walker running out against Denmark in the next game, we should never see him in an England shirt ever again… but then with Southgate…