LONDON. — Jose Mourinho has criticised Raheem Sterling’s performances for England at the Soccer World Cup and believes he should have been dropped for the third-place play-off. Sterling started six matches in Russia, only missing the final group game against Belgium, though failed to score – extending a barren run for his nation that has last since the back end of 2015 – and registered just a single assist. The Manchester City star has faced plenty of criticism for his underwhelming displays, and Mourinho was equally unimpressed with his World Cup campaign.

“A little bit surprising for me is Sterling in the team because he did not have a good World Cup,” said the Manchester United manager when discussing England’s line-up on Russia Today prior to Belgium’s 2-0 win on Saturday. He continued: “He didn’t have a good enough World Cup to be chosen for a match in front of (Jamie) Vardy, (Danny) Welbeck and (Marcus) Rashford – people with probably better conditions from a physical and psychological point of view to start the game.”

Sterling was hauled off at half-time against Belgium and England noticeably improved in the second half, with Mourinho feeling that replacement Rashford brought something fresh to the attack.

“They made changes that improved the team. The team was more dynamic in the second half. Some good chances. (Eric Dier arriving in that position. He’s a No.6, a defensive midfielder, to arrive in that position is an extra thing.

“(John) Stones, (Harry) Maguire coming with the ball into midfield and giving some freedom to other players. Rashford – I don’t say quality because he didn’t have many quality situations – but his happiness, his youth, his movement, gave a good dynamic to the team too. England was better in the second half.”

Meanwhile, Mourinho has confirmed that the seven Manchester United players involved in the semi-finals of the World Cup will miss the start of the new English Premier League season.

Only Tottenham Hotspur (nine) have more players left in Russia for the final weekend’s action than United, level with Manchester City and Chelsea. Marouane Fellaini and Romelu Lukaku played big roles as Belgium claimed a third-place finish, beating an England team on Saturday that included four United players: Phil Jones, Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford.

Paul Pogba contested the final with France yesterday, and Mourinho says he will give all players involved in the latter stages of the World Cup at least three weeks off to recover.

Speaking on Russia Today, he explained: “The majority of the big teams will be without players because we cannot start the Premier League with our players involved in the World Cup. Which is a shame for the most important club competition in Europe.” He continued: “They are going to have three weeks off, which I think is the minimum that their body and souls need, and is the minimum to make them return with conditions to think about football again.

“I think to bring them back before that would be like: OK I have you for the first match of the season, but maybe I don’t have you in three or four months.

“So it think the three weeks is the minimum that they need which means they are going to need to be back in the week when the Premier League starts which means they are not ready to start the Premier League.”

Mourinho went on to criticise the Premier League’s scheduling, with United kicking off the new campaign on Friday August 10 against Leicester City – less than four weeks away. He added: “I think it’s difficult to understand (why the Premier League returns so soon) when we could have perfectly had one more week for everybody to prepare everybody.

“For example the Community Shield I imagine is going to be Chelsea’s second team against Manchester City’s second team. Am I going to watch the Community Shield? Not at all. I am not going to lose my time.

“And I think probably the majority of fans are going to think about it the same way. And then the beginning of the Premier League – unless Pep and Jurgen and Mauricio think differently than me – the players that reached the semi-finals and the final they cannot start the Premier League.” — Metro

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey