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Sunday 7 October 2018 11:10, UK
Gareth Southgate is confident Raheem Sterling will start scoring for England to end criticism of his finishing ability at international level.
Sterling enjoyed his most prolific season in front of goal at club level, netting 23 times for Manchester City as they won the title with a Premier League-record 19-point margin.
But with only two England goals from 44 appearances to his name - the last of which coming in a Euro 2016 qualifier against Estonia in September 2015 - Sterling has faced criticism for his finishing in internationals.
"In simplistic terms we are just waiting for him to add goals to everything else he's producing," Southgate told The Mirror.
"His level of performance with us has been really good, but the one missing piece is his finishing. If he had scored twice at the World Cup everyone would have been viewing his tournament in a much more positive way.
"But he knows how much we think of him and what a valuable part of the team we feel he is. Hopefully that's the most important thing for him and I am confident he can transfer that into his performances.
"He's desperate to do well with England because it has been a big part of his career from 17 up. He was able to stretch defences in the summer with his speed and that caused them problems. He found really clever pockets of space that overloaded the midfield. He works incredibly hard without the ball in our team.
"He was able to stretch defences in the summer with his speed and that caused them problems. He found really clever pockets of space that overloaded the midfield. He works incredibly hard without the ball in our team."
