Former player turned pundit Darren Bent has slammed Gareth Southgate for his decision to continue playing Harry Maguire despite the defender struggling for minutes at club level.
Last night’s international friendly against Scotland saw England run out resounding 3-1 winners.
However, despite failing to start the game, Maguire, 30, still managed to find his way into the sporting headlines.
Substituted on in place of Marc Guehi for the game’s final 30 minutes when England were 2-0 up, Manchester United’s number five converted an unlucky own-goal.
And although Southgate was quick to publicly defend his first-choice centre-back, Bent believes the blame for last night’s backlash lies solely with the England manager.
“The Maguire situation – I blame Southgate,” Bent said on talkSPORT.
“Gareth Southgate is the one talking and saying ‘we need to protect him’ – there was no need whatsoever to put him out there last night.
“[…] What are you expecting? – The guy hasn’t played any minutes…”
Listen in full to what the former Sunderland striker had to say below.
"There was no need whatsoever to put Maguire out there last night, what were you expecting?" ?
"Gareth Southgate is responsible for all this banter that's been thrown towards Maguire!" ?
Darren Bent slams Gareth Southgate for bringing on #MUFC Harry Maguire against Scotland! pic.twitter.com/2IIbiIWQCI
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) September 13, 2023