Roy Keane told ITV Football (15/11/20 at 11:25 am) that he ‘cannot understand’ why Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings didn’t jump for the free-kick goal England conceded against Belgium last night.
Declan Rice fouled Kevin de Bruyne on the edge of the penalty area, when the score was 1-0 to the hosts, but Keane defended the West Ham man and felt that he was ‘very unlucky’ and he got ‘enough of the ball’ for it not to be a free-kick.
But the set-piece was awarded and Dries Mertens dispatched it passed Jordan Pickford, with only two of England’s four-man wall jumping.
For the static Mings, the ball ended up going above his head and Keane made it clear that it’s ‘beyond’ him why the Villa man didn’t jump.
“Rice gets very unlucky here [for his tackle on De Bruyne],” said Keane. “He gets enough of the ball and it all happened very quickly. And it’s not a free-kick.
“But you still have to deal with it. What I cannot understand is the wall. You have to jump. I know people talk about players putting it under the wall. But the way he’s running to the ball, Mertens, he’s clearly going to try and whip it over the wall.
“And why Mings doesn’t jump is beyond me! I just don’t understand. But the wall has to jump!”
In the end, England ended up losing the encounter 2-0, but it was Mings’ club teammate, Jack Grealish, who stole the show.
Gareth Southgate handed the Solihull-born playmaker his first competitive start and he took it with both hands as he dazzled the Belgian’s all over the pitch.
That performance alone has made even the harshest of critics of Grealish stand up and realise that England should be building the team around the thriving star.
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