NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Roma director Tiago Pinto has hit out at Gareth Southgate’s reasoning for not taking Tammy Abraham and Chris Smalling to the World Cup with England.
Abraham was competing for one of the spots up front as back-up to Harry Kane, while Smalling seemed a more unlikely option at centre-back, although with England’s defenders struggling for form he would have fancied his chances.
On Abraham’s omission, Southgate said it was down to his recent poor goal-scoring form, which has seen him score just three goals in 15 Serie A appearances so far this season.
‘Tammy’s had a poor run of scoring form at the wrong time, really, and it’s not a case of that we are three or four weeks away from a finals and the start of the first match,’ said the England boss.