'Danny Rose and Phil Jones are not going to change. They are not good at defending or good defenders': Roy Keane launches scathing attack on England duo after Belgium defeat
- REPORT: Belgium claim third place after 2-0 play-off win over England
- Thomas Meunier got the better of Danny Rose to give Belgium an early lead
- Phil Jones then allowed Eden Hazard through to double the lead for Belgium
- Roy Keane was hugely critical of Rose and Jones's defending after the match
Roy Keane did not hold back in his criticism of Danny Rose and Phil Jones following Belgium's victory over England in the World Cup third-place play-off.
Just three minutes and 37 seconds into the game, Thomas Meunier ghosted in behind Rose, who was substituted at half-time, to turn Nacer Chadli's low cross beyond Jordan Pickford from the edge of the six-yard box.
For Belgium's second, Jones was unable to stop Eden Hazard and England's fate was sealed when the Chelsea start struck to double the lead and Keane gave a scathing review of England's slapdash defending.
Thomas Meunier got the better of Danny Rose as he gave Belgium an early lead on Saturday
Phil Jones's sloppy defending then allowed Eden Hazard to go through and double the lead
Roy Keane was massively critical of the England duo's defending following the match
The Manchester United legend said on ITV after the game: 'If you’re making the same mistakes every week, it’s going to continue. They are not going to change. Rose and Jones.
‘Because they are just not good at defending, they are not good defenders… They are working with some great coaches. If their coaches aren’t going to change them, they are going to keep doing it and they are going to cost you big style.’
Keane's withering assessment came after he laid into the Tottenham left-back at half-time. Belgium's first goal was the fastest ever scored by a Belgian player at the World Cup finals, but the pundit was more focused on Rose's shortcomings than Meunier's heroics.
'England obviously gave a shocking goal away,' he said at the interval. 'Sloppy, lazy defending... Really lazy defending.
'When you look at Rose's defending as well on top of the centre-halves (Jones, John Stones and Harry Maguire), he's never going to learn about the game if he doesn't know that at 28 years of age. He's in trouble.'
Fellow summariser Lee Dixon gave a more detailed analysis of that Belgium goal and appeared to lay a lot of the blame at Jones' door as the Manchester United defender - making his first appearance of the tournament - drifted into midfield in pursuit of Eden Hazard.
Lee Dixon placed some of the blame on Phil Jones as he wandered forward into the midfield
'It was early in the game. We looked tired, we looked sloppy,' Dixon said. 'Roy's right, some of the defending that went on was really poor.
'Jones goes into midfield, following Hazard. When Jones goes in, just watch, he just wanders in. That leaves us short now in the middle so they can't go tight.
'Two centre-backs drop off, (Romelu) Lukaku feeds it inside. We've got a four v two there, how we get beat... we've got to block the near post off, block the cross from coming to the far post. We do neither and that's a really poor start.'
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