Gareth Southgate's Reason For 'Embarrassing' Jack Grealish Substitution Proves He Should Never Be Doubted

Gareth Southgate has explained why he substituted Jack Grealish during England vs Denmark and his thinking was spot on.

Grealish came on for Bukayo Saka in the second half of Wednesday's 2-1 win and he entered the fray to massive cheers.

However, he only played 35 minutes in total and found himself substituted for Kieran Trippier in extra-time.

It's a decision that confused many at the time and Southgate addressed it in his post-match presser.

PA

Per TEAMtalk the Three Lions manager said: "He's fine - he understood, he was terrific when he came on he gave us momentum.

"But we know when they've gone behind in games they've thrown four men up front so we needed to get an extra defender on just to make sure we were more solid and I wanted to keep Raheem's [Sterling] speed on so it meant taking one of the two boys off who had just come on."

The 25-year-old has become a cult figure among England fans and is regarded as one of their most creative players.

Southgate's move to bring him off was a bold one that could've backfired, but it didn't.

Ian Wright told ITV: "I feel for Jack Grealish you can see it's a tournament that he really wants to be a part of, Every time he gets going it doesn't quite happen for him. To be taken off like that is of course, you're subbed as a sub and it's not nice.

PA

"But it is about the squad and being a part of it. Sunday, Jack might come on and make a massive difference. He might set up the winning goal."

While Gary Neville admitted it would be 'embarrassing' for the Aston Villa captain despite the move being made with good intentions.

Neville added: "There's been moments all the way through this tournament where Gareth has been questioned and been battered if it'd gone wrong.

PA

"He's done things his way all the way through the tournament, there's no ego in the dressing room. He'll make the decisions that need to be made for the team to be successful and he puts the team first.

"Jack tonight has suffered and look it's an embarrassing moment for him in the sense of being a subbed sub. Nobody likes it but he will recognise it was the right thing to do for the team."

Topics: Football, Euro 2020, Jack Grealish, England, Denmark, Gareth Southgate

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

@DanMarland_