Raheem Sterling defends Bukayo Saka from critics | OneFootball

Raheem Sterling has called for England’s young players like Bukayo Saka to be left alone to focus on their football.

Though he was speaking ahead of England’s game against the USA, Raheem Sterling’s comments feel particularly timely following that match.

Bukayo Saka had been the star of the show against Iran, scoring two goals, winning the Man of the Match award, and even being named Player of the Round by WhoScored much to the delight of everybody who had used Betway Insider.

But against the USA, Saka struggled to get involved. The blame for that was partly on his teammates, who could have done a lot more to find him in positions where he had options, but the criticism largely landed on Saka’s shoulders anyway.

Sterling had suggested that we need to avoid putting that kind of pressure on the Arsenal youngster, as well as others like Jude Bellingham.

“I think it’s brilliant to see players playing well for their clubs bring that to the international stage and biggest stage in football,” Sterling said.

“I want them to be left alone so they can be focused and not have any added pressure on them.

“It’s a different kind of pressure to what I was under. In tournaments like this, no matter how many caps you have got, the less you hear your name the better.

“Every player knows if they are playing well, bad or not to your standards.

“The less we put them under the microscope, the better they’ll do. It’s virtually impossible not to talk about them given how well they are playing but I think the less we go on about it the better they’ll do.”

England certainly seem to suffer from the high expectations back at home, though they have had some positive recent tournament runs.

Arguably, those runs have only ramped up the pressure, with people now expecting England to make the semi-finals and beyond.

But for the likes of Bellingham and Saka, playing their first World Cup tournament, they shouldn’t hold the responsibility for England’s results.