Gareth Southgate hits out at Harry Maguire treatment after own goal in England friendly - 'It's a joke'

England manager Gareth Southgate said the treatment of Harry Maguire by some of the media is “a joke”.

The Manchester United central defender scored an own goal against Scotland on Tuesday night, and came at a dreadful time for the 30-year-old given his recent poor form.

His manager at Old Trafford, Erik ten Hag, took the captain’s armband from him ahead of the new season, and brought in 35-year-old defender Jonny Evans on a free transfer, while also allowing Maguire to hold talks with West Ham over a prospective move.

Maguire elected to stay at United and has seen minutes on the pitch largely because of injuries to players ahead of him in the pecking order, but Southgate has stayed loyal to the player.

After seeing his side win 3-1 at Scotland on Tuesday, Southgate hit out at some of the comments made about Maguire.

He said in his press conference: "There has been ridiculous treatment of him for a long period of time - It’s a joke. I’ve never known a player treated way he is by our own pundits. It’s beyond anything I’ve ever seen.

"He's been an absolute stalwart for us in the second most successful team for decades. He's been an absolute key part of that."

Phil Foden opened the scoring after 32 minutes, Jude Bellingham added another three minutes later, and while Maguire scored an own goal midway through the second half, Harry Kane added a third on 81 minutes to make sure of victory.

Southgate praised all his players, telling Channel 4: "Really pleased. I thought we were excellent in all phases of the game right from the start.

"We wanted to control the game by using the ball well and I thought we did that well. Today the players one to 11, and the subs, it was one of those days when they all did well.

"At the weekend Ukraine sat really deep and we found it hard to create chances but today we had runners through."

Bellingham said he had failed to meet his own expectations against Ukraine, and Southgate said he was not surprised he was better against Scotland, saying: "He doesn't have a point to prove to us, we know he is a really good player. Saturday was not his best game, but we weren't at the level we wanted to be and we knew he has a fantastic personality to come back from that.

"His performances have been outstanding and one performance isn't going to change that. As an attacking eight, or where he played tonight, he looks to get into the box. Tonight his athleticism to press was so important. Scotland's system is difficult to play against so we slightly changed our system and he did that well."

Another scorer, Foden, had been a topic of conversation over the week concerning his best role for England, and Southgate said: "I'm pleased for him. I've had a lot of questions about him [from the media]. He scored a goal and I thought his performance was really good. He did a really good job for us without the ball too and that's often overlooked. To press well and counter-press was exceptional."

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