Speaking on the ITV Football Podcast, Gary Neville has delivered his verdict on Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish after he didn’t play in England’s first game of the Euros.
Gareth Southgate raised a few eyebrows this weekend by leaving Grealish on the bench despite the fact many fans were clamouring for him to be given a chance.
However, Neville absolutely agreed with Southgate’s decision.
What’s been said?
Neville says that although he genuinely loves watching Grealish play, he wouldn’t pick him in his England XI.
“I absolutely love Jack Grealish, I genuinely do love watching him play football, but I wouldn’t pick him in front of Mason Mount, I wouldn’t pick him in front of Phil Foden and I wouldn’t pick him in front of Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane at this moment in time. That might be unpopular, but you can’t have Grealish, Foden, Mount, Kane and Sterling in the same team,” Neville said.
It worked
Regardless of whether or not Southgate was right to leave Grealish out, three points are three points at a European Championships.
Would England have won more comfortably if Grealish had played? Perhaps, but at the end of the day, a 1-0 win is just as valuable as a 4-0 win at this stage.
So, the question remains, should Grealish play against Scotland? In our view, he absolutely should, but after Southgate’s gameplan against Croatia worked, we wouldn’t be shocked if he was left out again on Friday.
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