Andy Munro watches England struggle against Iceland and sees an obvious solution.
I watched almost with total disinterest England’s tortuous one-nil, last-minute victory over Iceland.
The forward line picked by Gareth Southgate could have done with Mason Greenwood for all the game as well as the physicality of a Marcus Rashford against a team with a Viking mentality. The England defence was also less than impressive and if the
However, it is the midfield that really concerns me. Personally I think James Ward-Prouse and Declan Rice are vastly over-rated, and are in the average at best category at international level. Now, as a Bluenose, it’s natural for me to think that Jack Grealish gets eleven out of ten for his smarm factor and he also reminds me of a footballing version of Harry Enfield’s ‘Tory Boy’.
However, and much as it grieves me to say it, Grealish is a undoubtedly a top quality player brimming with natural ability and should be one of the first names on an England team sheet. Unless closely man-marked (and I can’t understand why more teams don’t do this) he can be unplayable, and England aren’t so overflowing with talent that Southgate can afford to keep such a player on the bench.
It’s the usual story of a player from the Midlands not getting a fair crack of the whip when London-based lesser lights such Rice, with only a fraction of Grealish’s talent, get the nod.