Roy Keane says Jack Grealish must wait patiently for his England opportunities after the Aston Villa captain was left out of the side again. Grealish remained an unused substitute for the second game in a row despite his man-of-the-match performance against Wales last week. His omission as England were defeated 1-0 was a hot topic for pundits Keane and Ian Wright on a TV show. While former Three Lions and Arsenal striker Wright was left puzzled by the decision to leave Grealish on the bench, Keane took a different view.
Ian Wright said “I’d probably be disappointed if I was him seeing different people getting warmed up to come on. You cannot blame him [Gareth Southgate] for trying to bring Dominic 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.”
Roy Keane responded: “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. 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.”
