‘No England player should be booed,’ says Gareth Southgate in response to Joe Gomez incident

The Liverpool defender was booed as he came on as a substitute during England’s win over Montenegro

Gareth Southgate insisted “no player in an English shirt should be booed” after Joe Gomez was left devastated by the jeers of a section of supporters during the country’s 7-0 thrashing of Montenegro.

The Liverpool defender was booed during his warm-up and as he was substituted on at Wembley, following his altercation with Raheem Sterling at St George’s Park earlier this week.

Sterling, who was dropped for the match, immediately tweeted to condemn those fans, stating that “it was hard to see his teammate get booed for something that was my fault”. Meanwhile, Gomez was consoled after the match by Southgate and another member of the England staff.

“I think the reaction that Raheem has given with that statement tonight shows that they’re very, very close and we’re hugely disappointed for Joe [Gomez] – he doesn’t deserve that in any way, shape or form,” Southgate said. “I’ll repeat what I said: no England player in an England shirt should be booed.

“It was audible. Look, it’s for us to pick him up. He’s a young player who’s had a difficult week, and my priority is to support him. But I know all of the lads are going to get around him. I just know that’s happening now and will happen over the next few days.”

Southgate also insisted the aftermath of the incident between Gomez and Sterling had been blown completely out of proportion, painting the squad as being “in absolute disarray”.

“I did try and say this yesterday: the narrative that seems to be out there, because I’ve kept myself, as I always do during these weeks, away from everything, but the narrative… You’d have thought that we were a camp that [was] in absolute disarray and that just isn’t the case.”

England fielded their youngest side in 59 years in the lopsided victory and, with their spot at Euro 2020 now guaranteed, Southgate admitted that while he had a settled group in mind for next summer’s tournament, a host of places remain up for contention.

Joe Gomez was booed after he substituted (Getty)

“If we had to pick our best team tomorrow, we’d be very clear on what that was,” he said. “But that best team can change over the next six months, with form, certainly with injury. So we’ve always got to prepare, keep the squad involved, prepare the squad in the best possible way, because in the end, we could invest in securing an eleven now and then, come March, three or four could be out.

“[Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain] Ox is the classic example of that. You know, we thought in March ahead of the World Cup he was in a really good groove to give the sorts of performances that he’s given tonight. Then, he’s out and you’ve got to go back to the drawing board. So, the good thing is we’ve got really good options in every position, and that’s key, because you’ll all remember plenty of tournaments where we’ve had a key injury on the eve of the tournament, and then we’ve all been in meltdown about what might happen. So, there is some strength in depth.”