England through to World Cup semi-final with 2-0 win over Sweden
Sunday 8 July 2018 14:30, UK
Gary Neville feels the criticism of Raheem Sterling on social media at half-time in England's 2-0 win over Sweden was "absolutely disgusting".
Neville reckons Sterling put in a brilliant performance as England reached the World Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990 with the victory in Samara on Saturday.
Although Sterling missed a chance to make it 2-0 before the break, Neville felt his running in-behind the Sweden defence was pivotal, and all that was missing from his showing was a goal.
Sweden 0-2 England
As it happened
He said on ITV: "The actual treatment at half-time of [Sterling] across social media was absolutely disgusting, and isn't representative of the performance he put in.
"To run in-behind Granqvist all that time, he kept getting in and getting in. OK, we didn't have the cherry on the cake, the goal, where all of a sudden you're a hero, but it was a brilliant performance."
Gareth Southgate's England looked comfortable in Samara, after scraping past Colombia on penalties on Tuesday evening.
Former England defender and coach Neville feels this is the most composed England side he has seen in a while, and praised the spine of the team in Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Jordan Henderson and Harry Kane.
"Absolutely incredible. An amazing job. I have to say over the last 25 years of England, when we're winning we usually drop deep and protect, and when we're losing we get desperate.
"This team, with every performance I've seen in this tournament, it has been controlled and composed. Against Colombia, it was a perfect performance until 90 minutes. Yes, they conceded a goal and lost it a bit for 10 minutes, but got it back and were in control.
"It's the most mature, calm England display that I've seen in a long, long time. I've not seen this level of composure from our team.
"Playing out from the back, making sure they do the right things, not retreating, and for me you've got to give credit to Gareth, John Stones at the centre of that back three, Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane and the goalkeeper, because they're the spine of that team. They really are doing a great job."
Neville, who backed Southgate for making eight changes in the group-stage defeat by Belgium, feels England's favourable draw has come from the manager's brave call.
"We're only playing the teams we're playing because he made a brave decision to rest those players.
"The pelters were ready to come, the clouds were circling when he made those eight changes. If we'd played badly and lost against Colombia, it would have been thrown back at him. Make no mistake about that.
"He has manufactured the way in which this team got into this side of the draw. It's a big advantage to us, but that's because of a decision the manager has made."
