Media must choose whether to help England, says Southgate

Published on: 22 June 2018

England assistant manager Steve Holland was seen clutching training notes on Thursday that seemed to indicate the starting XI against PanamaBBC coverageHow to follow:Listen on BBC Radio 5 live and BBC local radio; text commentary on the BBC Sport website

The English media have to decide if they want to "help the team or not", says manager Gareth Southgate, after a picture of England's training notes was published online and in newspapers.

A piece of paper held by assistant manager Steve Holland seemed to suggest England's line-up for Sunday's World Cup Group G game against Panama.

Holland has apologised to the squad.

"It's not going to help us because all the rest of the world has now seen that team," said defender Kyle Walker.

Southgate said the teamsheet was "just a squad list", and "it doesn't bother me in the slightest".

But he added: "Obviously any time, if we were to give the opposition the opportunity of having our team it's a disadvantage to us.

"So of course our media has to decide if they want to help the team or not."

Holland's teamsheet indicated that striker Marcus Rashford could be in line to start alongside captain Harry Kane.

Raheem Sterling may be dropped to the bench while Ruben Loftus-Cheek could replace the injured Dele Alli.

England play Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday, with the match live on BBC One from 12:10 BST.

Source: bbc.com

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