England manager Gareth Southgate has explained the reason why he withdrew Jack Grealish in his team’s Euro 2020 semi-final on Wednesday and claimed that the forward “understood” the decision.
Despite playing in England’s two warm-up games before this summer’s tournament, the 25-year-old has not been given the playing time that many Three Lions fans have called for.
Grealish has been included in starting XI only once so far at Euro 2020 – when England met the Czech Republic who have already qualified from Group D – with the rest of his appearances coming via cameo roles as a replacement.
The Villa man was once again picked up from the bench in England’s semi-final victory against Denmark on Wednesday night, but he was embarrassed to have been pulled off in extra time after the three Lions had taken a 2-1 lead.
When asked how Grealish reacted to being replaced just 35 minutes after coming on, Southgate claimed he was good with the decision and that it was done to strengthen the defense when Denmark sought a late equalizer.
“He’s fine, he understood, he was amazing when he came, he gave us speed,” he told reporters (via subway).
Jack Grealish made an impact on Denmark / Carl Recine – Pool / Getty Images
“But we know when they have done it [Denmark] gone behind in games they have thrown four men forward so we needed to get an extra defender just to make sure we were more solid and I wanted to keep Raheem [Sterling] speed up so it meant removing one of the two boys who had just come on. “
Southgate have not been afraid to cut and change their starting XI throughout the tournament, with Bukayo Saka emerging as a surprising favorite with the England boss.
It remains to be seen if Grealish will get his chance from off in the final against Italy on Sunday, or if Southgate again chooses to use the flashing forward from the bench.
