Roy Keane told the ITV UEFA Nations League Highlights show (15/10/20 at 12:10 am) that Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish needs to be ‘patient’ after he was snubbed by Gareth Southgate once again last night.
Whilst Keane felt that Grealish was being treated like a ‘messiah’, Ian Wright held a totally different view from the outspoken Irishman.
“I’d probably be disappointed if I was him seeing different people getting warmed up to come on,” Wright told ITV. “And you cannot blame him for trying to bring Calvert-Lewin on with his form. Jadon Sancho with the form we know that he can show.
“I would have liked to have seen him come on. He brought Jordan Henderson on. Fine! But the fact is, bring him on. We needed some creativity in the middle – He was MOTM against Wales. He sat out two games. You need someone who runs with the ball. Passes the ball through. He’s not afraid in any situation on the pitch to show for the ball and try to make something happen.
Keane added his own input: “I am intrigued. You have said he has played 14 minutes of competitive football for England yet all of a sudden, I know Wrighty loves him and we all know he’s got a chance of being a very good player. It’s like he’s the messiah. The messiah for England.
Wright responded: “If he [Southgate] plays the more attacking players in that team and an attacking midfield player. There was nothing, for me, in that Denmark side that we couldn’t beat. We were very pragmatic with the team that he picked. I don’t know where the creativity was going to come from in the midfield. It was going to come from Conor Coady spreading it wide.
Keane then added: “But Jack will get his time. There are other games coming up. Gareth, from a manager’s point of view, is thinking ‘we are 1-0 down, still in the game and we just need one chance’ and Jack will have to be patient.”
Grealish was handed his first England start by Southgate last Thursday and he showcased his talents to the world by supplying an assist on his full debut and claiming the Man of the Match award.
But since then, he has been an unused substitute, which begs the question as to why the Villa man is being treated like this.
At club level, things couldn’t get any better for Grealish because Dean Smith’s side have won their opening three matches, including beating Liverpool 7-2 – he provided three assists and scored two goals during that game.
Then he produces that performance against Wales.
But all of a sudden, when England lack that spark in the final third, when they need someone to get hold of the ball and take people on, Grealish is just left sitting in the stands.
All of this has understandably resulted in an outcry on social media, by not just Villa fans, but those outside of the Midlands as to what Grealish needs to do to just get on the pitch for his country.
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