Chris Sutton has told BBC Sport that Gareth Southgate was ‘pretty ruthless’ towards Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford on Sunday.
The 28-year-old made his England debut at Wembley yesterday, but it wasn’t a memorable performance from the Englishman.
The Three Lions eventually won the encounter 4-0, but Southgate opted to haul Bamford off just after the hour mark with the scoreboard reading 1-0 to the hosts.
Moments after going off, England won a penalty, which was converted by Harry Kane, before Jesse Lingard added his second of the game and Bukayo Saka made it a birthday to remember for himself.
Watching on from the stands, Sutton admitted that he felt sorry for Bamford and the ‘ruthless’ manner in which he was dealt with by his national manager.
“Gareth Southgate was pretty ruthless there,” said Sutton. “I feel a bit for Patrick Bamford.
“He didn’t get lots of opportunities and I thought his hold up play was quite good, but he was outnumbered really against a team that has shown very little intent.”
It was slightly unfair on Bamford yesterday because in the first half he was doing a lot of right things.
The work eithtic was there and he was constantly making goalscoring runs without the ball, but he wasn’t being fed against a defensive-minded Andorra side that played with a very low block.
The players around Bamford were being pretty selfish on the ball, and as a result, it wasn’t bringing the former Chelsea man into the game.
But by the time the less selfish creative talents were on the pitch – Mason Mount and Jack Grealish – it was too late because Bamford was warming the bench by then.
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