Declan Rice insists England will learn from their defeat against Iceland (Picture: Optus Sports)
Declan Rice has jumped to the defence of Kobbie Mainoo amid criticism of the Manchester United youngster’s performance against Iceland.
The teenager’s meteoric rise represented one of the few uplifting aspects of a disappointing season for the Premier League giants.
Mainoo’s own breakthrough campaign was capped by his winning goal in last month’s FA Cup final but it was a different story of the 18-year-old upon his return to Wembley last night.
England produced a disjointed display in front of a near capacity crowd and were ultimately booed off following an insipid 1-0 defeat.
Mainoo was only one of several players partially at fault for Jon Thorsteinsson’s winning goal and Rice insists his partnership with the United starlet is a work in progress and one that can flourish in Germany starting next week against Serbia.
He said: ‘Yeah, look we done it in March and it was really positive. I can imagine tonight because we lost some people are saying stuff but that’s football these days. Kobbie’s young,
‘I’m young, our midfield options are young. Look, we’re going to learn every game and that’s the beauty of football.’
Kobbie Mainoo was playing only his second game for England (Picture: Getty)
Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson scored Iceland’s winning goal against England (Picture: Getty)
Responding to the frosty reception his players were met with at the final whistle, meanwhile, England manager Gareth Southgate said: ‘I completely understand. We didn’t play well enough to keep them excited within the game.
‘As I said, we had some very, very good chances that normally would be finished, which could have given a different complexion to the game, and, of course, would have affected the confidence of the opponent.
‘But that might also have masked some flaws that were apparent tonight.
‘From my perspective, I’ve learned a lot from the game, but no qualms with the supporters’ reaction.
‘To have the fans with you here obviously makes a massive difference, but you have to give them enough goalmouth action, you have to play well enough, press and win the ball with intensity to keep them with you during the game.
‘Tonight we didn’t do that, so we have to accept the reaction as it was.’
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