West Ham United star Declan Rice and Manchester City’s £100m man Jack Grealish have been given a public dressing down by England boss Gareth Southgate.
The softly spoken Three Lions manager very rarely utters any public criticism of his players.
But Southgate has made an exception for West Ham hero Rice and Man City attacker Grealish following their actions in the 4-0 win over Hungary.
Rice and Grealish the toast of fans for downing the jeers
West Ham enforcer Rice was man of the match as he played a key role in England’s win and topped the night off with the fourth goal after an assist from Man City star Grealish.
The duo were the toast of football fans across the country after celebrating by literally drinking the boos as they celebrated.
After his goal Rice goaded the hostile Hungary crowd who had directed vile racist abuse at the West Ham man’s teammates, as reported by the likes of Sky Sports.
And earlier in the game after Raheem Sterling opened the scoring for England, he was showered with missiles and cups by the home support.
West Ham and Man City duo drink the boos
As the players celebrated, West Ham star Rice and Grealish picked up a cup each and mocked the fans by pretending to drink from it.
Fans of West Ham, Man City and supporters in general lapped up Rice and Grealish’s celebration on social media.
But Southgate had a different take heading into today’s game against Andorra – where both are likely to be rested.
Southgate was critical of the West Ham and Man City stars, warning them against any repeat of their ‘provocative’ behaviour. Meanwhile he praised Sterling and Jude Bellingham for their ‘mature’ responses (EuroSport).
Southgate not happy with duo’s actions and calls for more humility
“I think we needed to be a little bit careful in how our interaction with the crowd was the other day,” Southgate said – as reported by The Telegraph.
“We all recognise that certain things that happened weren’t acceptable but also we ran a little bit of a risk of inflaming some of those situations. So I think the players managed that quite well but I think the boys have to have at the back of their minds that humility – ‘Yes, we were playing well and we got a good result but let’s keep our professionalism and keep our focus’”.
“We are going to have to play these teams again and we don’t want to give them any additional motivation by any of our actions.”
So while Rice and Grealish may have firmly established themselves as fan favourites with their actions, it seems the main man they need to impressed was far from it.
The Telegraph claims Southgate had issued the same warning to Rice and Grealish privately before addressing the issue in the press.
In other news, What rivalry? Spurs star Kane hijacks Hammers hero Rice’s post match interview.
And Ex France Under 21 star says he supports West Ham after switch.
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