“There is no better feeling than playing for England”savored striker Jack Grealish, who started and scored against Ireland (2-0) on Saturday, admitting to having experienced “one of the worst summers of (his) life” because of his non-call-up to the Euro.
The Manchester City winger or playmaker, not called up by Gareth Southgate in Germany after a bad spell at club level, has been included in the “our” new coach Lee Carsley for the Nations League restart in Dublin.
“I need to start playing regularly and scoring goals, that’s what I did today”he said on camera for broadcaster ITV. “I still don’t feel 100%, but I’m getting there.”
He particularly appreciated “go see the fans and hear them sing my name” after the final whistle. “There’s no better feeling than playing for England, especially in games like these where a whole nation is watching you.”
The Citizen hopes to relaunch his career, at club and national level, after being morally affected by the end of last season.
“It was one of the worst summers of my life because you can’t not see everything that’s happening in front of you,” he said, referring to England’s Euro finalists. “It was tough, but it gave me more motivation to bounce back.”he assured.
Southgate’s successor highlighted the accomplished performance of the striker, an Irish international in the youth teams, despite the hostility of the public.
“Jack has nothing to prove to us, you can see his quality,” Carsley said. “It did him a world of good today and hopefully he can keep it going.”
The 50-year-old manager praised his players for their overall performance, particularly in the first half, without taking the credit for it.
Regarding the two goals, scored after some nice collective moves, “I wouldn’t say it’s my way of playing, all the credit goes to the players.” On the other hand, he appreciated “the way they reproduced things that we talked about, the way of moving the ball quickly forward, the forward runs.”he listed.
