Roy Keane has slammed Jordan Henderson for his performance in England’s 2-1 defeat to Czech Republic on Friday.
The Liverpool captain endured a torrid evening in Prague, as England lost their first major tournament qualifier in a decade.
And speaking as a pundit for ITV, as quoted by the Daily Mail, ex-Manchester United man Keane pulled no punches in his appraisal of Henderson’s outing.
He said: “They’ve been really sloppy, Henderson and Rice.
“They might as well sit with us in the studio.”
OPINION
Keane has been typically frank in his assessment here, and to an extent, you can understand why. This was far from Henderson’s best performance in an England shirt, so much so that fans singled him out for widespread criticism, as per Live 4 Liverpool, but at the same time you have to feel a little sorry for him to. It was fairly evident from watching the match that he was being deployed in a fairly deep role, and while there’s nothing wrong with that per se, you have to ask whether Gareth Southgate needs to play Henderson in such a defensive position when he has Declan Rice on the field as well. That kind of caution is always going to lead to frustration, and that frustration is always going to be directed at the players. Does it excuse a fairly dire outing from Henderson? Of course not. But does it at least partially explain why he wasn’t entirely at the races on Friday? It goes a long way, yes.
