Southgate’s experiment fails as Grealish leaves stage early
To go with attacking midfield line-up backfires and manager’s reservations about City forward may well remain
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In the stands in the moments after his substitution, Jack Grealish still looked in a state of disbelief that it was him whom Gareth Southgate had chosen to replace as this game started to fray at the edges and a Hungary team that had kicked and provoked England’s No 7 stood off him ever more.
In the quarter and semi-finals of the European championships in the summer, as well as the final, it had been at a similar stage of the game that Grealish was thrown on and now, in this interesting, spiky World Cup qualifier less than 13 months out from the tournament itself here he was being taken out of the action. There was a slight shake of the head as Grealish passed Southgate, the smallest suggestion of displeasure at his manager if one looked hard enough.
This had seemed like a night when Grealish would eventually tip the balance. Earlier he had won the free kick that provided England’s equaliser – a classic Grealish moment when he headed into a crowd of opposition players needling and grabbing and shoving and the man himself just awaited the critical moment of contact. By the time Grealish was replaced, the Hungary full-back was standing so
far off the No7 that he was barely within earshot.
The team that Southgate had originally selected was something different for this World Cup qualifier. A manager who naturally prefers to lock the door with two defensive midfielders decided that on this occasion he would survive with just one and unleashed upon Hungary five attacking players, including Grealish, to see if this was a viable plan for bigger games when much more is at stake.
He had only ever selected Grealish, Mason Mount and Phil Foden together in a starting XI once before, against Iceland in the Nations League last November. In the shifting patterns of fitness and form of international football these combinations are never easy to maintain. All three are adaptable, all capable of playing a number of positions and yet it was Grealish whom Southgate seemed to grant the most freedom to play wherever the game took him.
Foden, Mount and Grealish would all have been a strong case for England’s playmaker among other, less talented generations. The question for Southgate is how all three fit into the same team. Foden is the prodigious young talent. Mount is a disrupter of games – a passer, a tackler, a wide player, a goalscorer. Grealish is unlike anyone: quick only over the first two yards, very one-footed and yet mesmerising for the defenders he draws in and darts past.
Mount and Foden played either side and higher than Declan Rice, the defensive midfielder. Grealish and Raheem Sterling switched positions either side of Harry Kane. They tried to unbalance Hungary – switch the play, isolate defenders and at the heart of it was Grealish whose touch on more than one occasion was so good he needed only one where others might require three.
Of all the home qualifiers this one felt the edgiest and by that measure a lot more valuable to Southgate than the standard grinding down of an opponent out of their depth. The unpleasant Hungary support, whose reputation is now well-established, fought with the police. That might have been lost on the players in the moment. Going behind in a qualifier at Wembley was not. In the last 25 qualifiers England have been behind just twice, most recently to Slovakia in September 2017. They came back to win that one.
There was also the steady stream of provocation from the Hungarian players who also, it should be said, played well. They took risks building from the back in the first half in particular and came through the England press with confidence.
At the other end Grealish carried the ball from left to right. He drew Hungary players towards him in that 36th-minute run into a corridor of red shirts on the right wing – one behind him, two ahead – that led to the foul for the free kick from which John Stones scored the equaliser. As defenders surround him there is always the sense that somewhere beyond the circle of shirts there are team-mates unmarked and opportunities to be had. The challenge in Grealish’s game will be finding them.
One ball struck hard and high to the left wing just before the break was guided by Grealish first time past his Hungarian opponent Loic Nego with one perfectly-judged soft touch of the right foot. Just after the hour the withdrawal of Grealish caught the Wembley crowd unawares. There was a groan as his number was raised and he crossed the touchline without the full acknowledgement of his manager that convention usually demands.
Grealish has not had a straightforward player-manager relationship with Southgate. The substitution suggested that once again, the manager has his reservations. Although without him, England never quite looked as dangerous.
This had seemed like a night when Grealish would eventually tip the balance