‘Matador’ Grealish is happy to keep running the gauntlet for England after switching allegiance
JACK GREALISH comes from a city famous for its Bullring and now, according to England manager Gareth Southgate, it has a matador worthy of the name.
Birmingham’s biggest shopping centre has not seen a real bull since the 18th century, when it hosted baiting contests, but Grealish – a native of the city – may as well have been brandishing a muleta as he tormented the red shirts of Wales at Wembley on Thursday.
Ethan Ampadu fell for the bait time and again before being put out of his misery and substituted, but that did not stop the Aston Villa captain allowing the Wales players to charge at his every twist and turn.
It was not just for show, either, as Grealish (pictured) supplied the cross for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to open the scoring and won the free-kick from which Conor Coady doubled England’s lead. Rather than trying to look for space away from the frustrated visiting defenders, the 25-year-old actively tormented them into mistakes and fouls.
Southgate, who is now under pressure to hand Grealish a second England start in tomorrow’s Nations League game against Belgium, said: “He’s a matador in those situations, isn’t he? The only thing that worries me occasionally is that when he does hang on to the ball, he gets clobbered, and you don’t want him to pick up injuries.
“But in those deeper areas, he is confident enough to play and you are not thinking he’s the type of player who is going to lose the ball in that situation.”
Grealish’s rolled-down socks and miniature shin pads act as his muleta, as they tempt the opposition into thinking he can be kicked out of the game.
But, just as a matador lives for danger, the maverick midfielder feeds off the fouls.
“A few of the lads were saying, ‘we’ve never seen anyone get kicked as much as you’ but, if I’m honest, I enjoy it,” Grealish said.
“Getting kicked means I’m doing something right most of the time so, yeah, I get a little kick now and again, but it’s something I don’t mind because I’m helping the team.”
The rolled-down socks reveal muscular calves that were referenced on more than one occasion by the television commentary team, but Grealish
insists they are not something he puts special work into.
“I wear my socks down for two reasons. One, when I was 16, I had a season where I wore my socks down and that was when my life took off. I thought to myself, ‘I’ve done well this season, I’m going to carry on with this’.
“Also, a lot of socks are that tight around my calves, they give me cramp. I try to have them down underneath my calves. I don’t do any work on them, either. It is just a thing that runs in my family.”
Flamboyance has not always been embraced by the national team and it took Grealish five years to receive senior recognition after deciding to play for England instead of the Republic of Ireland.
Compared
Paul Gascoigne, who Grealish has been compared to by former managers and players, had to prove to Bobby Robson that his unpredictable talent could be harnessed within a team before going on to help England to the semifinals of the 1990 World Cup and win 57 caps – the last of which came when Grealish was aged just two.
“Of course I know about Gazza,” Grealish said. “I don’t really see myself as him, but I would love to be like him, the way that he played football. He played with such joy.
“I think everyone who watched him could see that. That is what I want to do.
“One of the biggest compliments for people to say to you is that you make them happy watching football. I would love to get compared to Gazza. I think he is an absolute icon. Him, along with Wayne Rooney, was probably one of the greatest England players over the last 30 years.
“There have been a load (of good players), but if they were the top two, Gazza would be my first.”
It is hard to believe that a player who approached his first England start with such confidence could be struck down by stage fright, but that is exactly what happened when Grealish attended his first national trials aged 15.
“I was just a young lad, going to meet up with all the best players from England, and it was a big difference from what I was used to,” Grealish said. “When I got there, I woke up in the middle of the night and went to go to the lavatory. My room-mate, who was Diego Poyet, Gus Poyet’s son, heard a bang and then I just woke up in the bathroom. I had obviously collapsed. I didn’t want to go home the following day, but England said they thought it was best that I did.
“From then on, I went to play for Ireland through the youth levels and I carried on with them because of how much I enjoyed it.
“But as I got older I realised I am English, my family is English and in the future that’s what I want to do. And I want to be in the squad now for the next, however long – five, six years – and I want to have a long England career and get many caps.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)