'It's beyond me!' John Terry slams 'negative' Gareth Southgate decision vs USA

Chelsea legend John Terry was left baffled by Gareth Southgate’s negativity during England’s bore draw against USA.

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The Three Lions were at their swashbuckling best against Iran on Monday, scoring six goals with five different players getting on the scoresheet.

Southgate, however, reverted to type last night and opted for a safety first approach which yielded a largely listless display against moderate opposition.

Much of the post match criticism of Southgate has centred on his reluctance to play Phil Foden who was an unused substitute and forced to watch on as England failed to muster a semblance of attacking threat in the second half.

Terry fears Southgate has failed to learn the lessons of previous tournaments where his circumspect approach has cost England in the latter stages and was astonished by Foden’s inactivity.

He told beIN Sport: ‘I felt it was always going to be the toughest game in the group. It was always going to be England, America and then anyone else after that. It’s still dissappointing especially after the way we played in the first game.

‘Disappointed we’ve not got on the scoresheet at all tonight, disappointed with some of the tactical changes they were very negative from our point of view.

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‘I’d love to see us being more aggressive. We’ve spoken about Gareth and can he learn from his mistakes previously. For me, personally, I would have done things differently how we’ve not seen Foden on the pitch beyond me.

‘He’s one of our best talents and I’d love to see him on the pitch. You throw him, Grealish and Rashford on it excites people it gives the team a lift. These guys are big, big stars and need to play football.’

Southgate was quizzed over Foden’s role in the squad in the post match press conference and said: ‘Obviously, whichever one of our forwards we didn’t put on if we didn’t win the game, I was going to be sitting here answering questions about why I didn’t put them on.

‘We wanted to change the wide areas, we didn’t think it was a game for Phil in the middle because he doesn’t play there for his club and defensively it was a really complicated game for the midfield three to work out.

‘That’s why we thought Hendo could help us at that moment as well as giving Jude (Bellingham) a physical rest.

‘It was a game for experience in the middle area and then it was a decision on wide players. 

‘We thought Marcus’ speed would be important and Jack could carry the ball up the pitch for us, win fouls and relieve pressure on us.

‘Without a doubt we love Phil, he’s a super player. We could have gone with Phil and maybe things would have been different, but that was the choice we made on the night.’

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