Gareth Southgate has leapt to the defence of John Stones after the centre-back’s calamitous error saw England football slip to a 3-1 defeat against the Netherlands football.
The Nations League semi-final was tied at 1-1 after Matthijs de Ligt atoned for his own early blunder, cancelling out Marcus Rashford’s penalty with a towering second-half header.
However, Stones was then caught idling on the ball on the edge of his own box in the first-half of extra-time by Memphis Depay, leading to Kyle Walker’s crucial own goal.
Stones' less than gratuitous pass to Ross Barkley towards the game's death led to Depay stealing possession again and Quincy Promes condemned any lingering English hopes.
However, while Southgate admitted Stones’ individual error had cost his side, he insisted Stones was England’s best centre-back.
“He knows that I am here to support him, I know he is going to get criticism, and he’s had a difficult end to the season in that he was not playing regularly at his club,” Southgate said. ”But we still think he has been our best centre back, has huge qualities and huge potential to be a top player.
“He has had so little football at the end of the season that the sharpness and fatigue as the game wore on were definitely factors in what has happened tonight.
“But Joe (Gomez) was with us (only from) two days ago, hasn’t played either, and Michael Keane hasn’t played in this sort of a game, so I think Stones and Maguire are our best two, and I have got to be there to support in their difficult moments.”
England will now face Switzerland in an essentially meaningless third-place playoff on Sunday but Southgate ensured that his side would be 100 per cent committed, despite juggling a number of selection issues due to injury and fatigue.
“We have to [give everything],” Southgate said. ”We have thousands of fans here, and we owe them that we give absolutely everything.
“The mentality of the group is that we do that right the way through, and we have to do that for Sunday. It is no use complaining about it.”
