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England Coach Gareth Southgate Explains Raheem Sterling, Joe Gomez Bust-up

England Coach Gareth Southgate has defended his decision to publicly announce that Raheem Sterling was dropped from the squad for the match against Montenegro. Sterling and Joe Gomez were involved in an angry confrontation in the Three Lions' canteen at their St George's Park training base on Monday, which was described by the FA as "a disturbance in aprivate team area".

Manchester City forward Sterling confirmed on Instagram that the incident was merely "a five to 10 second thing" and played down any lasting repercussions.

The 24-year-old is thought to have been angry with Gomez after an on-field dispute during Liverpool's 3-1 Premier League win over City at Anfield on Sunday.



During that match, Gomez picked Sterling up and pushed him away, and the City man is believed to have remained irked the following day when Southgate's England squad met up.

Some reports have indicated that Sterling grabbed Gomez, who joined Liverpool the same summer his compatriot left for Manchester, by the throat and pictures of the England players training on Tuesday showed Gomez sporting a scratch below his right eye which is believed to have come from the fracas.

As a result, Sterling - who has since apologised - will not face Montenegro at Wembley in England's 1,000th international match, as the Three Lions look to claim the point that will secure their spot at Euro 2020 next summer.

Speaking at a press conference to address the incident on Tuesday, Southgate said: "I wouldn't normally speak at this stage but there have been statements coming out of our camp it is important to speak publicly about this so that the players don't need to deal with that moving forward.


"I think I'm dealing with a very young squad and we're in a sport where emotions often run high.

"Raheem in his post last night explained that for a very brief moment, his emotions ran over. It would be correct to say that was not the same for Joe. These things happen in football.


"Then you have to find a way for the group to move forward. That needed some time, it needed the emotions to calm down.

"We have some excellent senior players who have played a part inkeeping everything together and we needed a manager to see that the group are prepared to work together moving forward, that everybody's comfortable with that, that everybody's in the right place.

"My priority is always the care and wellbeing of all of my players. All of my players. Then, you have a decision to make as to whether there needs to be further which is the right thing for the group moving forward, which is my reason for not selecting Raheem for the game Thursday."

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