15 June 2023 , 21:30
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Gareth Southgate has warned “there is a line” when it comes to players over celebrating.
Jack Grealish led the celebrations after Manchester City ’s Treble win as the England midfielder went on a three-day drinking spree with his team mates.
John Stones, Kyle Walker, Kalvin Phillips and Phil Foden were all pictured partying before being allowed to report up later than the rest of the England squad for international duty.
All five are unlikely to feature against Malta even though they have made the trip but it is party animal Grealish who has caught the most headlines because of his boozy antics.
England boss Southgate did not say whether Grealish had crossed the line and insisted he would not berate the players in public but it is unlikely any manager would want his players out on the town ahead of qualifying fixtures.
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Southgate said: “There is a line. I'm always monitoring everything the players do wherever they are, at whatever stage of the season.
“But anything like that I would do privately so I don’t think that would serve any purpose me discussing that publicly, really.
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Jack Grealish has gone viral for his part in Man City's treble celebrations (Getty Images)“A few of our players would be teetotal. What is different is that everyone posts everything. I wouldn’t have liked a few of my nights out to be posted publicly. My generation would have been in a lot more problems.
“I have spoken with the players. We have talked about where the focus needs to be, where we need them to be and acknowledged what they have experienced and that’s for me to manage.”
Southgate, who confirmed Harry Kane will captain the team and hinted Trent Alexander-Arnold will play in midfield, admitted the five City players are now unlikely to play in Malta but could feature against North Macedonia.
That is in direct contrast to City’s Dutch defender Nathan Ake who started for Holland on Wednesday night in the Nations League.
Southgate added: “We weren’t considering those boys to start this game. We were hopeful they could play some part and that is still the case.
“But with the tactical preparation that we knew we needed to do earlier in the week, we always knew they were going to report Tuesday night, Wednesday was going to be light and Thursday the usual light session. So unless we had a problem we were not aiming to put those players into this game.”