The reason why Newcastle star Kieran Trippier was self-critical in frank post World Cup match interview

Newcastle United star and England defender Kieran Trippier was self-critical in a post-match interview today despite England trouncing Iran 6-2 in their opening game of the World Cup 2022.

The full-back admitted that there were "moments in the game" where he felt he could improve, a sour taste left after his side conceded two goals towards the end of the second half.

Speaking to the BBC shortly after the full-time whistle, Trippier said: "We're all on the same page. It was a good three points but there were moments in the game where we could improve, myself as well.

"It's massive, winning the first game in the group is always important. We wanted to be on the front foot which we were, we were clinical in the right moments. Now we've got to rest, recover and focus on the next one.

"You can see the attacking players we've got and the players that came off the bench made an impact. We've got such quality in our team and it's just about expressing ourselves. We can enjoy this game and still learn from certain moments of it."

Trippier said that he was delighted for the young players in the England side, many of whom found the back of the net for the first time in the World Cup. He added that, despite being a more senior player, he was still relishing every moment.

The defender said: "I'm 32 years old, still enjoying every single game. If I'm playing, if I'm not I'll always be ready."

Speaking after the match, Gareth Southgate told BBC Sport: "It's a great start but we're going to have to be better. To win by that margin - to play as we did for the majority of the game - we've got to be really happy. That's a great marker to put down. But we shouldn't be conceding two goals at that stage of the match and we'll have to be right on our game against the States.

"We had, I think, 24 minutes of added time across the game, so it's a long time to focus - but we just lost concentration and when we play at a slower tempo, we're nowhere near as effective. I'm a miserable so-and-so and I should be more excited, but I've got to keep the team on the right track and we will have to be better."

The game was, of course, shrouded in controversy before kick-off after a last-minute backtrack from the FA over the wearing of a OneLove captain's armband.

In a last-minute u-turn, the FA scrapped plans to support the LGBTQ+ community, citing their reasoning as FIFA's threat to replace fines with yellow and red cards for players - although this had always been a possibility.

In a joint statement about the OneLove armband, the FA said: "FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play. As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games," the joint statement from the Football Associations of England, Wales, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland read.

"We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented - we wrote to FIFA in September informing them of our wish to wear the One Love armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response”.