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#3 Should Grealish start in England’s game against Belgium?
Most of the press coverage coming into this match surrounded Aston Villa star, Jack Grealish. The mercurial attacker made his first England start last month against Wales, but despite being named Man of the Match, he did not feature in the two competitive games against Belgium and Denmark.
Tonight saw Gareth Southgate hand Grealish another chance to impress, and he did just that. Ireland’s defense looked nervous every time he got on the ball, and some of his passing sequences with Mason Mount, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka were fantastic.
Grealish didn’t score in tonight’s game, but his assist for Sancho’s goal was excellent. And when he was withdrawn after 61 minutes, he exited the game with an impressive 90% pass success rate.
So has the Villa man finally done enough to be given his first competitive start for England? Judging by his club form and on tonight’s performance, you’d like to think so.
With his languid dribbling style and ability to ghost past opponents, Grealish offers something that no other English player really does. He’s the kind of maverick who could make a big difference against a top side like Belgium. And hopefully, Southgate understands that now too.
#4 Maguire gains some redemption with an excellent performance
Following last month’s UEFA Nations League loss to Denmark, no other England player came under more fire than Manchester United captain Harry Maguire. He came into last month’s international break on poor form and made things even worse, being sent off for two bookable offenses early on in that loss to the Danes.
Gareth Southgate would’ve been forgiven for leaving him out of this month’s squad altogether – particularly considering he’s suspended for Sunday’s game against Belgium. But instead, Maguire was handed the captaincy in tonight’s game.
Thankfully for the United man, he enjoyed a fantastic match. Sure, Ireland offered very little in terms of attacking moves to test him, but this was definitely an improved showing from Maguire. He shut down the majority of Ireland’s forward play, picked out some impressive passes, and of course, powered in a header for England’s first goal.
Essentially, this was the Harry Maguire that England fans grew to love for his performances in the 2018 World Cup. Whether he can keep this form up against tougher sides remains to be seen. But for now, at least, he should be back in the good books of England fans.
#5 Should tonight’s game have gone ahead at all?
There were definitely some plus points from tonight’s game from an England perspective. Harry Maguire appeared to have regained his confidence, Jack Grealish was impressive, and England proved that they can make a 3-4-3 system work if they have a creative man in midfield.
However, it’s still worth asking the question of whether the match should’ve gone ahead in the first place.
The majority of the Premier League’s managers are already concerned about the amount of football their players are having to deal with right now. And we’re already seeing more soft tissue injuries than we would normally be seeing at this time of the season.
COVID-19 is to blame, of course. The late ending to the 2019-20 campaign meant that players didn’t have a full pre-season prior to 2020-21 beginning, and they appear to be suffering for it now. So all of this bodes the question as to why the international breaks are still featuring friendly games.
To continue, the UEFA Nations League is understandable – it’s a competitive tournament that brings in important revenue for the smaller countries. But what is there to gain from friendly games? For instance, in the case of tonight’s match, England couldn’t even pack Wembley out for it.
The truth is that for all the benefit that someone like Grealish or Mount will have gotten from tonight’s match, they would’ve benefitted more from a rest prior to the Belgium match on Sunday. This just wasn’t the time for an international friendly, however you look at it.
