Tottenham Hotspur’s Danny Rose was partially culpable for a goal that England conceded today.
Speaking to ITV Sport, Roy Keane has delivered a damning assessment of Tottenham Hotspur defender Danny Rose.
The 28-year-old was given only his second start of England’s World Cup campaign today as Belgium beat Gareth Southgate’s side 2-0 to finish third in the competition.
Thomas Meunier opened the scoring after just four minutes, nipping in behind the Tottenham left-back to convert a teasing Nacer Chadli cross.
And Manchester United legend Keane has suggested on ITV Sport that the Spurs star should really know better than to concede a goal like that.
“England gave a shocking goal away. Sloppy, lazy defending. Really lazy defending,” said Keane.
“When you look at Rose’s defending on top of the centre-half’s, he’s never going to learn about the game. At 28 years of age…he’s in trouble.”
Keane is right – it was a soft goal for England and Rose to concede, but motivation must have been difficult.
After all, this defeat came on the back of Croatia eliminating the Three Lions earlier this week and the concept of a third-place playoff has been criticised by fans and pundits alike in recent days.
Many of the England squad – including Southgate – would have probably preferred to leave Russia.
That being said, Rose, who was dropped by Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino at times last season, is prone to the lapse of concentration, so we’ll never know whether his perceived error today was a result of switching off or simply not being motivated enough to stay switched on.
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