England coach Gareth Southgate has explained why he dropped Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori from his World Cup squad.
The Nigeria-born duo were hoping to be part of the England team after they shunned the Super Eagles for their choice of international career. Both have not been given a chance to play for England at high profile matches.
Southgate explained his picks at a press conference on Thursday.
“We wanted to make sure we had the balance of the squad right. I think at this stage, the squad is more important than ever with five substitutes almost half the team changes during the game,” he said.
“You want different players for different stages of the games and the tournament.”
“Tammy has had a poor run of goal-scoring at the wrong time. We are now ten days from the first match,” the England coach said.
“We don’t really know any of the players, we are watching their club form, but we don’t really know where they are until we see them face-to-face on the training pitch.
“There would be medical issues that we are not completely aware of yet, we know the form in the matches, but you don’t get the full picture until you speak to them and see how they train with each other.”
“We’ve picked our more experienced defenders,” Southgate continued, explaining his choices at the back.
“The younger ones have good qualities, but we don’t think they’ve quite done enough to push the experienced ones out.”
However fans have questioned the choice of Harry Maguire instead of Tomori.
One said: ‘Eric Dier and Harry Maguire being picked over Tomori is criminal #England.’
A second added: ‘Coady is good, but selecting Dier and Maguire over Tomori is bad.’
Another posted: ‘Dier and Maguire over Tomori and Rashford over Toney, is nothing short of a disgrace. Only positive is Maddison made it. #SouthgateOut.’
